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AUTHOR: 


BYRNE,  ALICE  HILL 


TITLE: 


TITUS  PO 
ATTICUS; 


PONIUS 


PLACE: 


BYRN  MAWR,  PA 


DA  TE : 


1920 


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fmS       Byrne,  Alice  H^^^'  fj';  „j,^pters  of  a  biography^ 

A  dissertation  ...   oy  "^  I 

Bryn  liawr,  19.20'  I 
viii.   102  p.       23  cm. 


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CHAPTERS  OF  A  BIOGRAPHY 


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TITUS    POMPONIUS   ATTICUS 

CHAPTERS  OF  A  BIOGRAPHY 


r. 

ii 


B  Disdettatton 


PRESENTED    TO    THE    FACULTY    OF    BRYN    MAWR    COLLEGE    IN    PARTIAL 

FULFILMENT    OF    THE    REQUIREMENTS    FOR    THE    DEGREE 

OF    DOCTOR    OF    PHILOSOPHY 


BY 


ALICE  HILL  BYRNE 


BRYN  MAWR.  PENNSYLVANIA 

1920 


/' 


rJM.r:.j-;:;'.:- 

|.JU.-)I,T;..'  •;:-: 


pKcss  or 

TMf  •'«''"*. MI-TIIMl  COMMHV 
LANCAtTEN,  M. 


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^ 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Introduction  y 

Chapter      I.  Atticus  as  Man  of  Business i 

Chapter    II.  Atticus  as  Man  of  Letters 23 

Chapter  III.  Atticus  in  Politics 52 


*> 


.^^.  li 


\\ 


S 


INTRODUCTION. 

In  attempting  a  biography  of  Atticus,  I  have  considered  his 
life  under  its  more  significant  aspects.  The  collection  and  col- 
lation from  Cicero's  letters  of  facts  concerning  his  life  has 
been  admirably  done  by  Drumann,  and  it  would  be  super- 
fluous to  give  the  results  of  an  independent  study  where  these 
coincide  with  results  already  pubhshed. 

Atticus  figures  in  the  life  of  his  time  as  a  representative  of 
the  propertied  classes  with  business  interests,  as  a  typical  man 
of  leisure  and  culture,  a  promoter  of  intellectual  activity  and 
himself  a  producer  of  a  work  in  historical  method,  and,  most 
significantly,  as  the  political  adviser  of  a  man  of  greater  genius 
than  he,  to  whom  he  was  able  to  supply  balance  and  insight. 

In  the  chapter  on  Atticus  as  a  man  of  letters,  I  have  thought 
it  proper  to  introduce  many  of  the  conjectures  made  by  scholars 
as  to  the  scope  and  influence  of  Atticus'  literary  work.  While 
few  of  these  can  be  established,  the  impression  made  by  the 
sum  of  them  is  probably  a  fairer  representation  of  Atticus' 
position  in  the  intellectual  world  than  could  be  reached  by  con- 
sidering only  the  facts  susceptible  of  proof. 

The  original  sources  for  a  life  of  Atticus  are  the  brief  biog- 
raphy of  Nepos,  the  letters  of  Cicero  to  Atticus  and  certain 
dialogues  of  Cicero.^  These,  with  some  mention  of  Atticus 
found  in  Cicero's  letters  to  other  correspondents,^  two  letters 
from  Brutus,^  three  references  in  the  work  of  Nepos  outside 
the  biography,*  Varro's  presentation  of  the  Epirot  stock  farmer 
in  De  Re  Riistica,  and  the  brief  references  of  Valerius  Maxi- 

1  De  Legibus,  Brutus,  Orator,  Academica,  De  Finibus,  De  Senectute, 
De  Amicitick  ,^^         ,,t,t 

2  Ad  Fam.  V.  4,  i ;  5 ;  VII.  30,  2;  31.  2;  IX.  8,  i ;  26,  i ;  XI.  29;  XIII. 
i;  17;  18;  XIV,  10;  14,  2;  19;  XVI.  23;  Ad.  Q.  F.  11.  10,  2. 

»  Ad  Brut.  I.  16,  i;  17. 

*  Vitae,  Dedication;  24,  3.  5 ;  23,  I3,  I, 

V 


\\ 


¥1 


INTRODUCTION. 


mus,*^  Seneca,^  Pliny/  Asconius,«  Quintilian,«  Tacitus,^'*  Sue- 
tonius," Fronto,^-  Censorinus,^^  Solinus"  and  Charisius^^  con- 
stitute the  testimony  of  antiquity  on  the  subject.'* 

The  biography  of  Nepos  was  a  complimentary  monograph, 
written  largely  during  the  lifetime  of  Atticus.    It  has  many  of 
the  characteristics  of  the  modern  journalistic  write-up.    It  be- 
trays the  defects  of  Nepos*  biographical  work  in  general,  care- 
lessness in  the  presentation  of  facts,'^  lack  of  psychological 
penetration,  undiscriminating  laudation.'*     Nepos  had  a  first- 
hand knowledge  of  Atticus  and  of  some  of  his  friends,  and 
thus  had  a  foundation  of  truth  for  the  facts  that  he  presents 
to  an  extent  that  he  could  not  claim  for  any  other  biography, 
but  his  general  statements  are  not  always  to  be  taken  literally ; 
in  fact,  the  sweeping  negative  statement  is  one  of  his  manner- 
isms, and  is  often  rhetorical  rather  than  accurate."*    Both  his 
facts  and  his  characterizations  must  be  discounted  when  they 
conflict  with  the  evidence  of  the  letters.     Nevertheless  there 
are  passages  in  the  biography  that  seem  to  be  echoes  of  con- 
versation with  Atticus,  and  may  convey  his  own  statement  of 
motive  or  his  own  comments  on  his  life.^* 

»  VII.  8,  5. 

•  Ep.  Mot,  21  and  97. 

l^-  ^'  XJXV.  II ;  List  of  Sources  for  VII.  and  XXXIII. 

»  0»  Pro  Cornelio,  p.  60  Stangl ;  On  In  Pisonem,  p.  18  Stangl. 

•VI.  3.  109;  VIII.  3,  32. 

^^  Annals  II.  43. 

"  De  Grammaticis  14  and  16;  Tiberius  7. 
"£^.  I.  7,  Naber,  p.  20. 
''■*  De  Die  Natali  2. 

^*  Collectanea  Rerum  Memorahilium  I.  27. 
i»  I.  12.  6  Keil.  ' 

16  Plutarch   mentions   the  correspondence  of   Brutus    with   Atticus 
Cicero,  45.  ^»«.i."-u3, 

nf'L^lL'TJ'^^^  '*^-  ^°"^  ^?"  ?*'*'"^  *^^*^^^°'«  »««  is  sufficient  evidence 
///^XV  %''"^''  *"  '^^       **"  ^^^*'  ^^'^'y  ascertainable  (Gellius.  Noct. 

^  -*Cf.  Schanz    pm.  Utf,  I.  2.   160.  Ein  adaquates  Lebensbild  zu 
schaffcn,  dazu  fehlte  es  ihm  an  phifosophische  Begabung     ^°^"^°"''  ^" 

nr  !,  «nT.f     *^  acrpama,  14.  i,  may  be  as  dubious  as  Nulla  lex,  18,  2, 
or  as  untrue  as  ommsque  ejus  pecuniae  reditus  14  3 

=«»E.g.   2,  5;  3,  3;  6,  though  in  the  last  there  are'general  statements 
that  arc  too  sweepmg.  k'^wciai  »iaicmcnts 


ff 


i 


i{' 


I'H 


^%^ 


INTRODUCTION. 


Vll 


The  letters  of  Cicero  constitute  evidence  of  the  h.ghest  value 
both  for  fact  and  for  characterization.    Many  quotaUoj^  from 
Atticus'  own  letters  may  be  gleaned  from  them;"  many  m 
Terences  as  to  Atticus'  point  of  view  may  fairly  be  drawn  from 

heTplanations.  protests  or  apologies  that  Cicero  eels  con- 
strained to  make  to  him.    The  urbanity  proper  to  the  corre 

spoTdence  of  two  men  of  the  world,  the  natural  tendency  o 
Stenin  letter  writing  the  significance  of  all  that  belongs  to 

the  correspondent,  must  be  taken  into  --f -^"'^  made  S 
conclusions.;  but  when  alWue  --  ^  ^  made.^the 
letters  remam  one  of  the  most  smccrc 

'"re'XToffered  by  Atticus'  speeches  in  the  dialogues  of 
Cicero  carries  less  weight  and  may  be  counted  as  conv.nong 
only  when  it  reinforces  conclusions  drawn  from  the  letters^ 
Yet'thecare  that  Cicero  used  in  choosing  interlocutors  the  effort 
Mhat  he  made  to  assign  to  each  man  a  P^" -nsonant  -th  h^ 
ideas  and  not  too  far  beyond  his  capacities."  ^^ded  to  the  ^^ 
that  in  the  case  of  a  living  interlocutor  a  venous  ^-^P^;^^*;^^ 
tion  of  reality  would  have  aroused  unfavorable   ^n^-^^^J^^J^^ 
it  a  fair  inference  that  Atticus  was  not  made  the  mouthpiece 
of  ideal  at  variance  with  his  own  and  that  the  experiences  to 
which  he  refers  may  be  accepted  as  facts 

The  studies  of  Atticus  by  HuUeman"  and  S<:hneider     pre 
ceded  the  work  of  Drumann.    Drumann's  chapter  on  Atticus 
s  a  monument  of  painstaking  erudition,  -alf  j^^^^^^^^^^^ 
but  of  small  value  as  an  interpretation.  J^«  ^'^^^^^^^^^ 
Ungherini"  and  the  chapter  on  Atticus  by  Boissier     are 

.  A  collection  of  these  has  been  made  by  Consoli.  Attici  EpUtularun, 
ad  Ciceronem  K^'*<I«'<^-}f}3-  orovincial  administration  Cicero 

2*  Diatribe  in  T.  Pompomum  AtHcum,  i53». 
25  n^  T  Pomponi  Attici  annalt,  i839. 
2^Geschichte  Roms.  V.  5^;  revised  by  Groebe. 
21  Del  carratere  di  T.  Pompomo  Atttco,  1897. 
28  Ciciron  et  ses  amis,  I9Q5- 


■HMHIM 


iiiiiiiii 


Vlll 


INTRODUCTION. 


much  colored  by  the  point  of  view  of  Drumann,  who  unduly 
magnifies  and  often  misunderstands  Atticus'  commercial  activi- 
ties. An  excellent  brief  biography  is  given  in  Peter's  Historic 
corum  Romanorum  Reliquice,  and  good  studies  in  the  biog- 
raphies of  Cicero  by  Strachan-Davidson  and  Sihler.  On  the 
literary  work  of  Atticus  the  monographs  of  Miinzer  are  dis- 
tinguished for  learning  and  penetration. 

In  the  study  of  the  letters,  I  am  indebted  to  the  work  of 
Tyrrell  and  Purser  to  an  extent  that  I  cannot  adequately 
acknowledge  nor  even  measure. 


( 


1 


(\ 


if 


I 


\ 


ATTICUS  AS  MAN  OF  BUSINESS. 

The  extent  and  nature  of  Atticus'  business  interests  are 
matters  of  inference  rather  than  of  knowledge.  The  evidence 
is  scant,  and  many  statements  that  appear  in  biographies  ot 
Atticus  are  unwarranted. 

When  about  twenty-four  years  old,'  Atticus  left  Rome  for 
Athens,  taking  with  him,  as  a  counsel  of  prudence,  the  larger 
part  of  his  inheritance.    The  date  of  his  departure  can  not  be 
exactly  determined.     Nepos  implies  that  he  left  Italy  in  87. 
while  the  contest  between  Cinna  and  Octavius  was  making  life 
precarious  for  the  partisans  of  both  sides  f  but  in  87  Athens 
was  actively  involved  in  the  Mithridatic  war  and  by  no  means 
a  refuge  for  a  young  man  seeking  security.    It  seems  certain 
that  Atticus  did  not  enter  it  until  some  time  after  March  of  86 
when  the  city,  after  a  long  siege,  fell  into  the  hands  of  Sulla. 
He  must  then  have  left  Italy  when  the  government  »*  C'nna 
had  weathered  its  first  storm ;  that  is,  be  did  not  avail  himself 
of  the  pecuniary  advantages  that  the  members  of  his  order 
reaped  so  greedily  under  Cinna's  administration."    He  went  to 
a  city  depleted  by  siege  and  confiscation:  the  island  colonies,  so 
largely  the  stimulus  of  Athenian  traae,  were  forfeited;  the 
slaves   who  had  formed  the  laboring  class,  were  confiscated ; 
commercially  and  industrially  Athens  was  decadent.'    On  the 
other  hand,  a  Roman  resident  in  a  foreign  state  was  ma  posi- 
tion to  take  advantage  of  "  the  exclusive  ability  of  the  Italians 

1 100  has  been  the  date  accepted  for  Atticus'  birth,  but  Groebe,  cc.m- 
oarin?  Nep  "«.  21  and  Ad  Att.  IX.  5,  h  where  he  retains  the  reading 
?/atoK,  argues  that  if  Atticus  was  ill  for  mo^e.**"  three  "lonths  ^fter 
completinl  his  seventy-seventh  year  and  died  in  March  of  3^  »>«"">« 
have  been  seventy-seven  in  March  of  33,  and  hence  was  born  in  iia 

2  All    2    2 

—  s  So  'Sihler.  p.  30;  cf.  Drumann,  V.  7- 

^  4  Acrrtnius   On  In  Toaa  Candida,  p.  09  btangi.  c„it* 

5Fer™  Hellemsiic  Athens.    The  colonies  were  restored  by  Sulla 

in  ^X?h;  commercial  activity  of  the  decade  100^  did  not  revive. 

1 


■«  TITUS  POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 

to  make  loans  to  municipalities  and  to  men  resident  outside 
their  own  towns,  with  the  assurance  that  the  Roman  officials 
would  permit  or  enable  them  to  enforce  their  contracts  "• 

Nepos'  account  of  Atticus'  life  during  this  period  conveys 
the  Idea  of  a  man  of  wealth  and  leisure,  devoting  himself 

generously  of  h.s  counsel  and  support  to  the   unfortunate 
Athenians.     According  to  Nepos.  Atticus  lent  money  to  the 
Athenian  state,  which  could  not  get  easy  rates  on  the  market 
refusing  interest  but  insisting  on  prompt  repayment  of  the  prin- 
cipal, furnished  free  grain  to  the  city,  giving  more  than  a 
bushel  to  each  citizen,  and  acted  as  the  state's  unofficial  adviser 
consulted  on  all  questions  concerning  the  common  weal.'    Now 
the  patrimony  that  Nepos  assigns  to  Atticus,  2,000,000  ses- 
terces," does  not  warrant  the  munificence  chronicled.    Unless 
Atticus  inherited  a  larger  sum  or  increased  his  patrimony  by 
active  and  successful  business,  he  must  have  been  unable  to 
make  large  loans  or  to  give  donations  to  municipalities.* 

There  is  little  information  about  Atticus'  business  affairs  in 
the  letters  of  68  to  65.  Besides  a  residence  at  Athens,"  he  had 
a  house  in  Rome,  occupied  by  his  mother  and  sister  and  the 
latter's  husband,  Quintus  Cicero."  Shortly  before  or  during 
68.  he  bought  land  in  Epirus,  near  Buthrotum."  In  67,  he  con- 
sidered buying  a  Neapolitan  estate,  but  was  anticipated  in  the 
purchase."  The  letters  show  friends  in  Rome  acting  for  him 
in  personal  and  business  aflfairs— Cicero,"  Sextus  Peducaeus," 
•  Ibid.,  p.  404. 

■  Ait.  14,  2. 

J»Near^the  liissus;  De  Fin.  V.  g6;  De  Leg.  I.  3. 

ihlldJiJi^ruf^V^''  P"'-<^h'/^  "«  only  an  addition  to  an  estate 
already  in  Atticus  possession;  if  Varro  avoids  anachronism  in  D,^, 
^-Jhca,  Atticus  had  a  well  stocked  farm  and  authoritative  eLneriJc, 
IB  farming  in  67,  the  year  to  which  Book  II.  is  ascnW        ''''*""'« 

A*  0|  1, 

"I,  5.  4  and  5;  8,  i;  etc.  "  T  e  ^    ..  • 


r  0' 


> 


ATTICUS  AS   MAN   OF  BUSINESS.  » 

Sallustius>«-and  an  agent,  Cincius,  handling  his  money." 
There  is  a  question  of  inheritance  that  involves  Tadius,'  and 
a  long  discussion  and  controversy  with  Acutilius  over  some 
matter  of  bargain  and  sale.-  The  only  sign  of  Atticus  own 
activity  is  in  his  purchases  for  Cicero's  Tusculan  villa.'  Cicero 
thought  Atticus,  as  compared  with  himself,  a  man  of  leisure ; 
and  yetin  67;.thol.gh  he  wanted  Atticus'  assistance  in  R^me-m 
his  candidacy  for  the  praetorship,  he  felt  that  his  friend  s  busi- 
ness affairs  in  Greece  were  too  important  to  be  left. 

The  presumption  from  the  evidence  for  these  years,  taken 
together  with  what  we  know  of  Atticus'  activities  after  he  left 
Athens,  is  that  while  he  was  pursuing  the  liberal  arts  in  that 
city  incidental  friendly  loans  to  Athenians  or  to  Italians  travel- 
ling abroad  gradually  led  him  to  develop  a  banking  business. 
Doubtless  his  financial  interests  were  furthered  by  the  prestige 
that  his  knowledge  of  both  the  Greek  and  the  Romarv  world 
conferred  on  him,  and  by  his  ability  to  advise  m  matters  of  law 
and  business.     During  this  same  period  he  was  investing  in 

landed  estates.  •  . 

In  buying  an  estate  in  Epirus,  Atticus  chose  retiremei^t  and 
simplicity  Buthrotum  was  oflE  the  main  routes  of  travel,"  and 
A^icus"^  estate  was  sheltered  even  from  such  currents  of  for- 
eign intercourse  as  agitated  Corcyra."  The  region  was  not^ 
for  the  growing  of  fruit  and  the  breeding  of  horses  and  cattle. 
The  place  became  a  center  of  activity,  probably  not  only  as  a 

Hi-  ?•  iril'llh^m's  t^me  oufof  harmony  with  the  general  tenor 
^»  I.  5»  o »  ».  ^  »  "  -uo*  A  f+iriic  was  advisine  the  defrauding  of  a 

misunderstood  him. 

^oL^ch:  VAo';s'*45-49;  it  is  likely  that  Atticus  made  further  pur- 
chases  for  Cicero  in  his  trip  of  61-60  (II.  i,  lU- 

"I.  5.  4;  6,  I. 

22 1.  10,  6. 

"  I-  5r  3.  „ 

2*  III.  7, 1 ;  IV.  8,  I. 

25  Pliny,  H.  N.  XV.  15 ;  Oeof.  I.  59- 


A 


■■III „ »■ 


/ 


«  TITUS   POMPONIUS   ATTICUS. 

farm,*«  but  also  as  a  station  for  extending  the  banking  busi- 
iiess.2^  While  Buthrotum  was  not  traversed  by  the  Roman 
legions  on  their  way  to  Macedonia  and  Asia,  it  was  a  harbor 
and  lay  on  one  of  the  Roman  coast  roads,  and  thus  gave  facil- 
ities for  reaching  out  into  an  unexploited  neighborhood.  At- 
ticus  eventually  made  this  estate  his  place  of  residence  while 
in  Greece,  but  seems  still  to  have  lived  in  Athens  during  the 
winter  of  68^72*  and  to  have  spent  some  time  there  in  65.2» 
After  65,  his  residences  were  in  Italy  and  Epirus.^<» 

He  may  have  intended  to  spend  most  of  his  life  in  Epirus, 
making  occasional  trips  to  Italy  as  he  had  done  from  Athens, 
but  the  desire  of  the  two  Ciceros  for  his  political  assistance 
kept  him  in  Rome  during  much  of  the  years  66-63  ;  possibly  he 
became  so  much  involved  during  those  years  in  business  and 
personal  relations  as  to  spend  more  of  his  subsequent  life  in 
Rome  than  he  had  planned  to  do.  However,  he  lived  in  Epirus 
for  a  large  part  of  the  time  before  he  inherited  his  uncle's 
property;  thereafter  his  enlarged  fortunes  doubtless  enabled 
him  to  live  in  Rome  according  to  his  liking.^^ 

2«In  R  R.  II.  Varro  assigns  A.,  among  other  stock,  eight  hundred 
mead  of  sheep— no  large  flock  for  an  Epirot  farm. 

2^  Cf.  the  agents  in  Corcyra,  V.  9,  i. 

2«  Cicero's  commissions  presuppose  a  residence  in  Athens. 

^^  I.  I,  2,  quoniam  propius  abes. 

^0  Nepos  states  his  impression  that  Atticus  went  to  Rome  to  live  in  65 
{AH.  4,  5).  He  had  planned  to  go  to  Rome  in  January,  66,  but  post- 
poned gomig  (I.  3.  2).  Later,  Cicero  urged  him  to  hold  to  his  plan  of 
coming  m  July,  to  assist  in  Quintus'  canvass  for  the  praetorship  (I. 
4,  I).  As  his  friend  Lucius  Torquatus  was  standing  for  the  consulship 
at  the  same  time,  it  is  likely  that  he  went.  There  are  no  letters  between 
tfie  first  half  of  66  and  the  middle  of  65 ;  Atticus  was  probably  in  Rome 
during  much  of  that  time.  In  the  summer  of  65,  Cicero  asked  him  to 
come  to  Rome  to  help  in  the  consular  canvass,  and  he  planned  to  be 
m  Rome  by  January  (L  2,  2).  It  is  likely  that  he  finally  gave  up  resi- 
dence m  Athens  in  the  latter  half  of  65. 

"  Atticus'  movements,  so  far  as  discoverable,  may  be  summarized 
as  tollows: 

h.1^2.  ^*''"  ^KV^P^i^'^^^U  ^  ^^-  '3»  .^  *  *^^-  ^2'  4)  ;  returned.  Decem- 
ber, 60,  probably  (I.  18,  i;  IL  2.  3;  3,  4). 

#TT  1  °''  ^P'*'"*  'tt-?'  ^^^'^^  ¥^y  ^"-  ^^'  ') '  returned  near  end  of  50 
Tw^fii'i,^'  ^^'  ^'^At  u^'i'  '^?fr  ^^  coUegiis).  I  cannot  find  that 
Tjjrell  has  ground  for  heading  III.  9,  to  Atticus  on  his  way  to  Greece. 
Atticus  seems  not  to  have  made  the  trip  he  planned  for  June  i.    Made 


n 


M 


ATTICUS  AS   MAN   OF  BUSINESS. 

He  announced  and  adhered  to  ^  Pf  ^y  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
the  great  Political-comrneraal  pr.z^  of  th^^^^ 
offices."    The  higher  positions  were  "°t  °Pen  -       _ 

through  a  political  career,  but  he  ^ad  at  ^-  -Jus^  .ta     P  ^^ 
tions  that  he  could  have  ^^^^^^^^  :nrichm^^^  in  the 

''•  ''  ''''7t  Ro^:  t^r'Slowed  to  pass  by.    Even 
provinces  and  at  Rome,  that  ne  ^^^^^^  ^^  ^^^  ^^^ 

in  63,  when  he  had  ^t  h.    «"^^  ^^^  ^^_ 

powerful  magistracy  m  t^^Jf^'^^^^  y  ^e  refused  a 

cepted  any  P"^^"    ^VnJitus  Ckero  when  the  latter  went  to 

f-- ::Z::^r''  S::Tr2Z  ^s^.  as  acero  said. 
Asia  as  propraeioi.    x^v-  ^^ 

for  a  life  of  honoraWe  re«nt^      business  interests  in  the 
Nevertheless  he  was  not  w  ^  ^^^.^^^^  ^^.^  ^^^^ 

provinces.    Early  ^^^''^^^^^Zn  until  the  end  of  60.    The 

^P'™^  Zl  ofthi   tip  waT  he  '  siege  of  Sicyon."  that  is.  the 
major  object  of  this  trip  w  „robably  to  the  municipal- 

collection  of  money  ^-^ '"^^f^f  f;^^^^^^^^^  ease  or  one  of  many 
i,y,s    Whether  this  loan  was  an  iso  ^  ^  ^^  ^^^ 

brief  visit  to  Dyrrachium  Decemb  ,  s8JHl^Ji'^„es  TulUanae  p.  86. 
is  to  be  retained.  Sjogren  retains  >t^  (cessation  of  letters  as  evi- 
\^^  ;"Jn!rr.i'stf  f  In  ^-tUer  (IV.  .  O  =  was  in  Italy 
^•^rarul'alVl^alnor.  May  10.  54  (IV.  x.  x)  ;  returned. 
November,  54.  (1^-  ^.V.Ln.  end  of  5i  (V.  i8,  i ;  ^9,  i ;  2^'  ^  5  V^'  ^'  ^^ 

Probably  was  m  Epirus  during  m 

X.  5,  3;  17.  4).  .  .     ^5  (XIII.  25,  3).  J"^'  44  (XVI.  2,  t», 

Planned  trip  to  ^pinis,  jmy,  4:?  v 

but  did  not  get  away  j^^^T^^J^^^y^..  5 

32 1.  16,  14;  17.  5  and  7;  Ncp.  ^J*'^'         ^ge^ed  him  by  way  of  com- 

S3  Nep.  Att  6,  4 ;  he  accepted  prefectures  oner 

pliment.  but  refused  f  ^ive  service^^  ^^^^^  Mebantur  (I. 

»*  I.  17.  5 ;  Tyrrell,  comment  ng  on  guturF  ^omplam  of  m  the 

20,  I),  says,  "  Atticus  certamly  did  see  som^^^^^^^^  .^^^^  ^^  Cicero 

induct  of  Cicero,  else  why  did  he  recapmaaie  referred 

SSd  the  chances  that  he  had  lost  for  h^s  sake^  ^  J^^^^         •        ^^ 


It 


m 


I 


i 


TTTUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


provincial  investments,  whether  it  represented  Atticus'  capital 
or  that  of  his  uncle  or  some  other  capitalist,  we  cannot  say. 

Atticus  started  on  his  journey  armed  with  a  letter  from 
Cicero  to  Antonius,  proconsul  of  Macedonia,  containing  a  re- 
quest for  assistance  to  Atticus  in  his  business.  The  assumption 
that  the  business  referred  to  was  the  collection  of  the  Sicyonian 
debt  is  open  to  question :"  in  the  first  place,  Cicero's  letter  was 
so  contemptuous  and  menacing  as  to  make  it  probable  that  it 
was  intended  primarily  as  an  expostulation  and  a  warning  to 
Antonius,  Atticus'  business  being  only  an  excuse  for  presenting 
the  letter  through  an  effective  mediary  f  in  the  second  place, 
as  Cicero  assumed  that  Atticus  would  go  straight  from  Epirus 
to  Sicyon  and  later,  at  some  indefinite  time,  to  Macedonia,'** 
the  letter  to  Antonius  was  evidently  not  Atticus'  prime  reliance 
in  the  matter  of  the  debt.  It  may  be  that  Atticus  had  business 
in  Macedonia  in  which  he  wanted  Antonkis'  help.  In  60,  he 
asked  Cicero  to  speak  in  his  behalf  to  Octavius,  the  successor 
of  Antonius,  but  again  there  is  no  evidence  that  the  subject  was 
Sicyon.  Cicero  answered  that  he  had  written  to  Octavius  but 
had  not  interviewed  him,  because  he  felt  that  the  business  in 
question  was  not  really  a  matter  for  a  governor's  considera- 
tion, and  did  not  class  his  friend  among  the  small  usurers  who 
were  wont  to  be   importunate   for  proconsular   assistance.** 

»«Achaia  was  probably  erected  into  a  province  by  Julius  Caesar 
shortly  before  45  (see  Mommsen, //<»rm«,  1893,603).  The  Greek  states 
were  not  formally  subordinated  to  Macedonia  before  57,  when  the 
Clodian  law  put  them  under  the  control  of  the  Macedonian  governor, 
at  least  for  the  period  of  Piso's  administration  {In  Pisonem,  37  and 
95;  De  Domo.  60).  Before  that  date,  their  position  was  ambiguous; 
theoretically,  they  were  autonomous,  but  some  of  them  paid  tribute  to 
Rome  and  their  courts  were  probably  controlled  by  the  governor  of 
Macedonia  (so  Hatzfeld,  B.  C.  H.  1909,  222-225.  Colin,  Rome  ct  la 
Greece,  668  f.,  ascribes  to  them  a  greater  financial  and  judicial  inde- 
pendence, while  Groebe,  Ath.  Mitth,  1908,  135  ff-.  says  without  qualifi- 
cation that  Achaia  and  Athens,  in  the  early  part  of  the  century,  belonged 
to  Macedonia). 

3T  Ad  Fam.  V.  5.    So  Schichc,  Z.  G.  1904,  11.  419. 

»®II.  I,  12.  As  objections  to  the  traditional  interpretation  of  this 
passage  presented  by  Tyrrell  may  be  offered  ( i )  putabam  and  habebam 
should  be  treated  as  epistolary  tenses;  Tyrrell's  translation  would  be 


■MlMMil 


i 


'% 


iit. 


ATTICUS   AS   MAN   OF  BUSINESS. 

Whether  on  the  same  or  on  other  business.  Atticus  st^  wanted 

to  keep  in  touch  with  the  governor  of  Macedonia  m  58.    In  the 
to  keep  in  10  ^^^^  ^^  ^^^^,j  ^^^  i^ave 

E  t^m  a^pUing  the  new  proconsul  had  been 

''XScus'  experience  with  the  Sicyonian  debt  shows  that  there 
watrLe  Quarters  of  the  -- a  tender  ---ew^^^^ 
«,rA  to  Greece  "    Shortly  before  March  of  60,  bervuius,  one 
S  Capo's    Sowing,  managed  to  insert  quietly  in  a  loiig  decree 

'c^uTe  thai  ::;dl'tly  cut'off  some  resource  '^^^^^fj^^^. 
^onev  lenders  in  the  collection  of  debts  from  the  free  states 

rius  at  once  found  the  collection  of  his  money  more  difficult. 

fnansverrhis  complaints,  Cicero  advised  him  not  to  hope  for 

any  r  peal  of  the  measure,  for  while  there  had  been  some  mee^- 

i:S^:t^:^^^^  was  too  sman  for  elective 

.  43 

"  Auic»  now  h.d  no  r„.»r„.  wrote  Ckero,  s.v=  his  own 

matter  by  no  means  occupied  all  his  time.  ^'''J-  ,,         j 

Atucus'  iife  at  this  period  as  one  of  abundant  f-^'J^ 

.ore  nature,  fnr  a  P'«P-^-M   (a> Jie  Uan^^^^^^^ 
Strained;  money  lending  in  ^^^'^^^^^l-ZVar  Sicyon;  (3)  it  is  highly 
TXullioi^^^^^^  for'wh^t  objects  Atticus 

improbable  that  Cicero  d,id  not  too w  aen        y       ^^^  interpretation  of 
wanted  his  influence  with  Octavius  usea  ^^.^^^.^  promnctalts 

provincialia  given  above  see  f^  Q^   t    L  i.^^  ,^   ^^   ^^  ^.  p^^  ^est 
knowledge  proper  to  a  provincial  govcn 
7  and  13,  /"  ^«^-  35- 
*•  111-  ^'  1       )  ,h.  Treek  States  as  having  been  the  property 

41  In  57.  Cicero  speaks  of  ^i^^.^J^^T^lY^^^^^^  them  into  the  hands 
of  the  whole  Roman  ^^^5^^efore  G^abmms  gav^^^       ^^  ^^  ^^ 

of  Piso   {De  Domo,  60,  ^"^.^;!,^^^ the  Hghts  of  the  so-called  free 
Julius  Caesar's  expressly  confirmea  tne  ng    ;» 

states  {In  Pis.  37)-  .     .  _„^  .u^,^  the  decree  forbade  provincial 

42  Tyrrell  on  I.  19,  9.  ^°"J^"V^'ff:i^,ior  debfag^^^     free  states, 
governors  to  take  cognizance  of  cla^^^^^^  {""Ulfattr^ues  with  Lambinus 

43 1.  19,  9;  20  4;  m  tlie^atte;  passage  l  rea  ^^^  not  reached 

believing  on  other  grounds  that  Atticus  answe  ^  y     ^^   ^^ 

Cicero  when  II.  i  was  written.    Lt.  11.  i,  *"• 

44  1.  19,9. 

45  1.19,1. 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


•  /  ^! 


was  a  strong  interest,  and  he  was  reluctant  to  leave  Greece 
without  having  accomplished  the  object  of  his  journey.**  He 
was  compelled  to  do  so,  but  after  reaching  Rome  he  set  on  foot 
a  new  effort,  probably  that  of  obtaining  from  the  senate  letters 
advising  the  Sicyonians  to  pay.  He  had  not  yet  obtained  these 
in  April  of  59.*^  Perhaps  he  had  them  before  he  left  for  Greece 
in  the  course  of  that  year.*'  There  is  no  evidence  to  sihow 
whether  he  collected  the  debt ;  in  the  year  58,  however,  Sicyon 
is  known  to  have  surrendered  certain  pictures  from  its  public 
buildings  because  of  insolvency.** 

Cicero  realized  that  his  friend  was  becoming  more  and  more 
involved  in  financial  matters.  In  urging  him  to  come  home,  he 
warned  him  jestingly  that  to  arrive  for  the  census  just  at  the 
end  of  the  period  was  too  much  like  the  act  of  a  mere  business 
man.**** 

From  an  early  date  the  two  Ciceros  and  Atticus  were  iden- 
tified in  their  class  consciousness  with  the  equites  and  were 
especially  bound  by  professional  and  business  interests  to  those 
members  of  their  order  who  were  engaged  in  tax-farming  or 
in  money  lending  in  the  provinces.''^  It  is  likely  that  Atticus, 
with  his  long  period  of  foreign  residence  and  his  numerous 
connections  abroad,  was  of  service  to  Cicero  in  building  up  his 
provincial  clientage.  His  influence  in  the  world  of  provincial 
business  is  indicated  by  Cicero's  request  for  help  in  a  matter 
that  threatened,  in  59,  to  embroil  him  either  with  the  tax  col- 
lectors or  with  the  traders  in  Quintus'  province.  He  asked 
Atticus  to  see  the  Greek  traders,  if  they  should  come  to  Rome 
to  protest  against  paying  port  duties  on  unsold  goods,  and  to 

IXw     If  ^ 

*«II,2I,6. 

*»  Pliny,  N,  H  35,  127.  Mahafly  (Silver  Age  of  Greece)  is  not  justi- 
fied m  stating  that  it  was  Atticus  who  forced  the  lien  on  these  pictures 
which  were  a  part  of  the  extravagant  display  of  the  aedile  Scaurus.  but 
the  inference  is  tempting. 

5«  L  18, 8. 

*»  II.  I,  10;  VI.  I,  5  and  10,  iuum  veterem  gregem,  and  15 ;  XIV.  12,  i. 


|i 


\\ 


II 


*> 


y 


Ci 


ATTICUS   AS    MAN    OF   BUSINESS. 


if 


I'll 


,\ 


explain  to  them  that  Cicero  did  not  think  them  liable  for  these 

^^Irllv  as  59,  Atticus  had  money  invested  in  public  lands 
and  chatnidf  on  his  own  and  others'  behalf  what  seemed  to 
him  excessive  demands  of  the  tax  collectors. 
"TtrpoSle  that  during  this  period  Atticus  had  some  sh^re 
in  managing  the  investments  of  his  uncle  Caeal.us,  who  wa 
wont  on  occasion  to  lend  money  in  Rome  at  h,gh  mtere^^ 
NeoLTestifies  that  while  Caecilius  repelled  most  people  by  his 
SabiSy  and  harshness,  he  found  his  nephew  compla.san^ 
and  Ob  Sng-    The  direction  of  a  fortune  larger  than  h,s  own 
would  ?e^  to  account   for  the  scope  of   AttKUs'  busmess 

'Tfhe  latter  half  of  58.  Atticus  became  the  heir  of  ti.r- 
fourths  of  Caecilius'  property,  a  fortune  ^^  ^^°'««'°°°f  ^"^?. 
and  a  house  on  the  Quirinal.  noted  for  the  beauty  of  Us  park. 
He  seems  to  have  occupied  the  house  at  once 

By  54.  at  latest,  he  had  investments  m  As>a.    On  May  10  ot 
,    that  yea;  he  left  Rome  for  Epirus,  hopmg  to  direct  all  h.s  af- 
fairs in  the  Ea.t  from  that  base,  as  he  had  agents  m  Asm 
Findine  that  his  Asiatic  affairs  needed  his  personal  attention,  he 
Finding  mat  nib  rv  ,.  „„_t-  Athens."    H  s  business  was 

started  eastward,  passing  through  Atnens. 

»  Cicero  himself  promised  to  advocf  their ^^^^^^^  'L^Ux  co&?f, 

if  it  should  prevail   to  "^^^''''f.^f'^iVlatter  effort,  he  would  remain 
confessing  that  if  he  should  fail  mftel^^^^^^         ^  ^j,;^^  ^„„,d 

content  with  the  goodw.U  of  the  P{f^^"»"'*^£f3  interpretation  of  the 
be  of  value  to  him  and  Qum  us  (11.  ^^^4;^^  ^^  ^^^  ^ptxrna 

'^''^^l^^^rZ'^S^l^^  C'o^   Tyrrell.    For  discussion,  see 
Tyrrell  ad  loc. 

""■i2!*.tcf.Val.M«.Vn.8.S. 

5»  Nep.  Att.  5. 1 ;  cf.  Ad  Q.  f-  i-  2.  ^  p    Uq.  I.  i,  3-    An 

"  III   20,  I ;  Nep.  Att.  13,  2;  <:/•  Xn.  45.  ]'^'^\%^)  sho^s  that 

inscription  found  in  the  ^'f '">*  "P^^Tnot  ^^^  course  Tdescendant- 

l^StrlidiS^yTn-Tr^irnTCHj^^^^^^^^  ToPo.rapHie  der 

fl'^thaWirCn-t'  ^^rth'  on"  fe^avtlRomTwith  chances  of  seeing 
Caesar  and  Quintus. 


It 


/ 


10 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


I   i 


I  1 


1 


I 


quickly  concluded;  on  August  9,  he  wrote  from  Ephesus; 
towards  the  end  of  November,  he  was  nearing  Rome  on  his 
homeward  journey.*® 

Slight  indications  of  Atticus'  transactions  are  found  in  the 
visits  and  commissions  mentioned  by  Cicero  during  the  jour- 
neys to  and  from  his  province.  He  was  entertained  by  Atticus' 
agents  at  Corcyra  and  the  Sybotian  Islands.**  In  Athens,  he 
visited  the  Epicurean  Xeno,  who  appears  later  as  Atticus' 
agent.***  On  reaching  Ephesus,  he  interviewed  Thermus,  the 
propraetor,  in  Atticus'  behalf,  commending  to  his  good  offices 
Seius,*^  Xeno  of  Apollonia  and  Philogenes,  Atticus*  freed- 
man.«=^  He  found  that  agents  of  Atticus  had  been  in  Ephesus 
before  his  arrival  and  had  received  assurances  of  good  will 
from  Thermus.*^  He  investigated,  apparently  for  Atticus,  the 
financial  standing  of  Egnatius  of  Side.**  The  letters  of  the 
year  show  that  Atticus  had  a  number  of  slaves  on  commissions 

On  his  journey  to  Cilicia,  Cicero  saw  at  Delos  accounts  de- 
posited there  by  Atticus,  a  further  proof  of  business  transac- 
tions in  the  lands  around  the  eastern  Mediterranean.'® 

During  the  spring  and  summer  of  51,  Atticus  kept  planning 
a  trip  to  Epirus*^  and  Athens ;««  this  was  postponed  from  time 
to  time  and  not  begun  until  late  in  the  year.*'  Replying  to  a 
letter  of  the  early  summer,  Cicero  took  for  granted  that  one 
cause  for  the  delay  was  that  Atticus  wanted  to  see  Pompey, 
whose  return  from  Ariminum  he  was  awaiting.^**    Whether  his 

58 IV.  18,  5 ;  19, 1. 
«»  V.  9,  1 ;  VII.  2,  3. 
•«V.  10,  5;  XV.  21,  2;  XVI.  I,  5;  3.  2. 
«»  Probably  a  Roman  knight;  cf.  XII.  11;  Ad  Fam,  IX.  7.  i. 
««For  Philogenes  as  Atticus'  representative  in  Asia,  cf.  V.  13,  2;  20, 
8;  VI.  2,  I. 
«*  V.  13, 2. 
«*  VI.  1, 23. 
*»VI.i,i3. 
••  V.  12, 1 ;  IX.  9, 4. 

«•  VI.  1, 24. 

•"V.  20,  8  and  9;  cf.  VI.  i,  i ;  Tyrrell  seems  to  be  wrong  in  his  note 
on  IX.  9,  4 ;  Cicero  saw  merely  the  accounts. 
»*V.  19, 1. 


I- 


i\ 


^ 


1 


} 


ATTICUS   AS   MAN    OF  BUSINESS. 


11 


business  with  Pompey  had  to  do  with  Cicero's  affairs  or  with 

his  own  we  can  not  say.  1     «r  «  niii#*f 

This  trip  was  made  at  least  in  part  for  the  sake  of  a  qmet 

filter  residence."    It  included  a  visit  to  Ath«,s.  w»^ere  Muc^ 

„.ade  a  gift  of  grain  to  the  -''^^\'''''"ll'^Z'^^^  l^ 
ing  protest  that  acts  open  to  the  charge  of  d^^^^gjff ^;""  ^ 
no'  in  favor  with  the  two  friends,  but  -needed  tl-^  ^he^g. 
might  be  regarded  simply  as  the  courtesy  of  a  guest 

""In'the  meantime.  Atticus  built  up  a  ^--^-^'^^^'^j, 
Rome.  The  first  indication  is  a  reference  to  a  d-strous  l^n 
a  few  other  loans  are  mentioned,  notably  one  of  "^y^^;"?  JJ 
Caesar"  and  a  small  one  to  Quintus  the  -o^-^^^^T^J^ll 
..r«c  tn  have  been  peculiarly  irntatmg  to  Atticus ,  nowever, 
re"e  are  f  r  fewe?  reference's  to  Atticus'  debtors  than  to  those 
of  Cicero  whose  numerous  loans  show  that  money  lending  was 
ot  uicero,  w.  hinkers  "    More  light  on  the  bank- 

by  no  means  «"fi"^^;<'.;~;,"„,es  to  AttiL'  handling  of 
ing  busmess  IS  gamed  ^'''J"''^J^^^      jebts,"  supervising 
other  people's  pecuniary  affairs— couectmg  a  u   ,       ^ 
T.  nualitv  of  coin  in  payments,"  witnessmg  and  executmg 
the  quality  oi  li/ui        y  j  makin?  ourchases  or  in- 

wills,"  attending  or  conducting  sales,    "T'^.f  J^jng  bills  of 

^e^„.pnt<! "  nlacine  loans  with  other  bankers,    issuing  um 
vestments,    placing  iu«.  Ciceros  Cato,  Horten- 

pvrhanse  "    He  acted  as  agent  for  the  v.-icero!.,  v.a    , 
exchange.    _"  „  paetus."    Perhaps  most  of  this  service 

sius.  Aulus  Torquatus   Jaetus  P  ^^^^^^^  .^^^^^^^ 

was  gratuitous;  at  any  rate,  /\uicua  pu 

n  V.2i,i. 
72  VI.  6, 2. 
'3 IV.  7, 2. 
74  VI.  1,25. 

«  VII.  18,4;  x.11,1;  15.4. 

'8  E.g.,  X.  15. 1 ;  XI.  3. 3 ;  XII.  47. 

"XII.  13,2;  18,  3;  etc. 
"II.  6,1;  16,  4;  XII.  6. 

«XI.  13.  3;  XIII.  6.      ^_.  XV   w 
80 XII.  50;  51,  2;  XIII.  25,  I,  AV.  3t  I. 

82  V.  I,  2;  XV.  20,  4;  XVI.  2,  5. 

88  V.  15,  2. 

8*Ncp.  Att,  I5f  3. 

88  I.  20,  7. 


/ 


i 


M 


f 


^ 


f. 


I 


12 


TITUS   POMPONIUS   ATTICUS. 


and  toil  into  the  discharge  of  commissions.  The  revenues  of 
the  bank  were  probably  derived  largely  from  interest  on  loans. 
There  is  no  proof  that  Atticus  handled  government  funds,  but 
he  may  have  had  his  share  of  these,  as  well  as  of  the  sums  that 
poured  into  Rome  from  campaigns  and  governorships  abroad. 
Convincing  evidence  that  banking  was  for  Atticus  a  serious 
business  is  found  in  the  jests  of  Cicero ;  during  the  elections  of 
54,  for  instance,  he  accused  Atticus  of  regarding  with  unpa- 
triotic complacency  the  rise  of  interest  from  four  to  eight  per 
cent.*® 

The  largest  transaction  recorded  is  the  advance  to  Buthro- 
tum,  in  46,  of  the  sum  that  Caesar  required  from  that  town  as 
an  alternative  to  the  confiscation  of  its  lands.  This  loan  threat- 
ened to  be  disastrous  from  a  financial  standpoint,  and  Atticus 
was  compelled  to  set  in  motion  all  the  political  machinery  in  his 
power  to  save  his  investment.®'^ 

Atticus'  place  in  the  banking  world  was  one  of  security  and 
cordial  relations.  Many  of  his  business  connections  developed 
friendships  and  mutual  hospitality .«" 

Atticus  was  interested  in  real  estate  at  Rome.  In  a  quip  that 
he  took  care  to  brand  as  such,  Cicero  exonerated  him  from  all 
obligation  to  Pompey  in  49,  because  Pompey  had  brought  down 
the  value  of  real  estate  in  the  city.^"*  It  is  likely  that  he  was 
interested,  not  only  as  an  owner,  but  also  as  a  banker  with 
money  invested  by  borrowers;  Cicero,  for  instance,  had  tene- 
ments for  rent.** 

Atticus  invested  some  of  his  money  outside  the  city  in  the 

*«  IV.  IS,  7.  A  passage  in  IV.  17, 4,  Nam  profecto  spem  habes  nuUam 
haec  negoiia  multarum  nundinarum  fore,  has  been  construed  to  mean 
that  Atticus  profited  by  political  disturbances;  Sternkopf,  Hermes, 
190S,  32,  offers  a  more  probable  interpretation:  At  this  rate,  the  state 
cin  not  stand ;  he  compares  X.  8.  6  and  7. 

«7  See  ch.  III.  notes  225-227,  269-275. 

•»  XII.  4,  2,  liif  canvwae  doubtless  including  Oppius  and  Balbus;  XII. 
47a,  i;  etc.  VII.  2,  3,  Ad  Fam.  VII.  30,  2,  Curius;  IV.  19.  i;  3,  Ves- 
torius;  V.  lo^  5;  n.  6,  Xcno. 

«•  VII.  17, 1. 

9§    If  \/       f  Mi       « 

Mm  W  »   *#  I  ** 


ij 


> 


i 


|i;t* 


ATTICUS   AS   MAN   OF  BUSINESS. 


13 


'ti: 


{ 


ipurchase  of  farms.    He  owned  one  near  Nomentmn,  just  out- 
Ee  Rome,  and  one  at  Arretium"  the  place  at  F.culae  men- 
'  t  oned  by  Gcero  in  planning  a  visit  may  have  been  the  same  a 
he  Nomentanum  of  Nepos  -     The  assertion  of  Nepc«    hat 
Atticus  had  no  other  source  of  revenue  than  h.s  estates  m 
Epirus  and  his  property  in  Rome-  .s  mcorrect.  as  .exclude 
the  banking  business  and  is  otherwise  at  variance  with  the  ,m 
Son  of  the  letters.    In  56.  he  was  looking  for  a  coun  ry 
tZ,  wifh  a  house,  at  Antium."    Discussing  an  abortive  p^an 
of  Atticus-  for  buying  a  place  at  Lanuvium,  Cicero  mentions 
hs  habitual  caution  in  buying  farms,  his  q^^tJi^r xh 
income  to  be  expected  and  the  productivity  of  the  soil.      The 
"n  of  the  Lger  at  Delos  suggests  ^f  j'e  -as  ^^«.^ 
buv  land  in  the  East  as  well  as  in  Italy ;  if  so.  his  purchasies 
nrS>ably    en  ered  in  Epirus  and  were  practically  an  extension 
rSgTal  estate  the're ;  whenCicero  said  that  Atticus  could 
°lve  whomever  he  pleased  in  charge  of  Thesprotia  and  Cha- 
oTa.'  he  was  of  course  exaggerating  the  size  of  the  domain 
buUt  is  not  improbable  that  Atticus  had  extensive  possessions 
both  north  and  south  of  the  Thyamis." 

The  importance  of  this  estate  as  a  source  of  income  is  shown 
bv  the  kngth  and  frequency  of  Atticus'  visits  to  it.  and  by  the 
™ntTattention^hat  the  Epirus  mail  and  the  reports  of 
hk  steward  Alexio  claimed  from  him.** 

In   he  merchandise  that  passed  through  Atticusjands,  «e 
find"  L  56.  a  number  of  gladiators  and  fight^s  w,  h  b^sU. 
Atticus  and  Cosconius  sold  some  of  these  to  Cato  for  use  as  a 
b^dy^ard.-    They  evidently  had  still  others,  m  whose  success 

»i  Nep.  AtU  14.  3. 

•2X11.34,1. 

"Nep.  Att.  14,  3- 

M  IV.  8, 1. 

«5  IX.  9,  4- 

»«  VI.  3,  2. 

97  De  Leg.  II.  7- 

M  XII.  53 ;  XIII.  25.  3. 

rJS  Rli  4.  5.    This  was  C.  Cato,  the  tribune  of  56. 


k{ 


■71 


II 


,     i 


♦    I 


I 


I , 


jam.       ' \m 


14 


TITUS   POMPONIUS   ATTICUS. 


they  were  interested  after  they  had  sold  them  for  exhibition.^** 
They  seem  not  to  have  contemplated  keeping  the  lot  in  their 
possession  and  letting-  them  for  exhibition.^'*^ 

One  of  Atticus'  sources  of  profit  was  the  breeding  and  train- 
ing of  slaves  for  skilled  employment.  Nepos  says  that  the  num- 
ber was  small,  limited  to  those  bred  on  his  own  estates,  but  that 
not  one  of  these  was  left  without  training  in  some  art  or  trade ; 
that  while  some  of  this  training  aimed  at  the  care  of  his  houses 
and  estates,  his  specialty  was  readers  and  librarians.*'**  In 
spite  of  Nepos'  statement,  it  is  likely  that  Atticus  bought  some 
slaves;  the  transaction  in  gladiators  shows  that  human  com- 
modities sometimes  came  into  his  possession  in  the  course  of 
business;  besides,  Cicero  ascribes  to  him  an  interest  in  the 
market  for  slaves  of  exceptional  musical  or  literary  ability.**** 

Among  those  trained  for  Atticus*  immediate  service  were  the 
agents  who  transacted  his  business  in  Italy,  Greece  and  Asia, 
and  the  messengers  who  acted  as  subordinates  to  these.  The 
agents  were  usually  freedmen,  emancipated  in  recognition  of 
services.  Philogenes,  after  travelling  widely  in  Asia  as  Atticus' 
agent,  appears  later  acting  as  agent  in  Rome.***^  Eutychides, 
who  was  emancipated  in  54,  was  acting  as  a  steward  in  Epirus 
in  51.**** 

The  literary  slaves  were  trained  first  as  readers ;  Salvius  was 
one  of  the  slaves  preferred  for  reading  to  the  guests  at  din- 
ner.***^ Possibly  Atticus  let  out  his  readers  to  furnish  enter- 
tainment at  other  people's  dinners,  but  there  is  no  evidence. 

Some  of  the  slaves  were  so  highly  cultivated  as  to  be  com- 
panions and  assistants  in  literary  and  historical  work.  Alexis, 
who  was  Atticus'  secretary  and  amanuensis,  must  have  had 
marked  literary  ability,  as  Cicero  compared  him  to  Tiro.**** 

»oi  IV.  8,  2. 
"2 IV.  4a,  2. 
»«»  Ncp.  Att  13,  3. 
!<»«  IV.  17,  6. 

"•VII.  5,  3;  7.  2. 
i»«  IV.  15,  I ;  V.  9,  I. 
i«^  XVI.  2,  6. 

^wvn.2,3;Xii.  10. 


^  •• 


I 


I 


ATTICUS   AS   MAN   OF  BUSINESS. 


16 


I 


I  I'l 


,>  I 


IIIV 


li 


0 


'^'■h' 


Nicanor  was  given  over  to  Cicero  for  secretar.al  work  dumg 
the  Matter's  proconsulate.-    Dionysius.  emancipated  some  time 
beforrEutychides.  also  accompanied  Cicero  to  Ciliaa  as  tutor 
of  the  young  Ciceros  and  as  a  literary  companion  for  he  pro- 
consul himsdf.  who  had  already  recognized  h.s  ab.httes  m 
w-xrm  tributes  "»    Thallumetus  shared  with  Atticus  the  read- 
CS  itt  FuWica."    Syrus.  Satyrus  and  Antiochus  we^e 
capable  of  assisting  in  historical  research  by  booking  J  ^mt     , 
of  detail "'    Athenodorus  Calvus,  a  freedman,  drew  up  for 
Cicero,  when  the  De  Officiis  was  in  preparation,  an  abstract  ot 
Posidonius'  work  on  a  like  subject."' 

From  an  early  period,  certain  slaves  were  trained  m  the  care 
of  books.  Atticus  began  collecting  books  while  living  in 
Greece,  and  by  67  had  accumulated  a  library  that  a  oused 
Cicero's  envy,  evidently  with  the  intention  of  selling  it.^  He 
St  up  "  tLe  a  la.ge  library  of  his  own.  but  -y  a^soj--  " 
bLht  books  for  others."'  His  slaves  were  expert  librarians, 
bought  DooKs  10  Servius  Qaudius. 

In  60,  on  receiving  by  gift  the  iiorary  01  c 
Cicero  commissioned  Atticus  to  have  the  manuscripts  trans- 
Z  tnWs  house  "•    In  56,  Atticus'  workmen  were  employed 

^      t  L  ,>1  thriibrai  of  Cicero  at  Antium  after  the  latter's 
to  rehabilitate  the  library  ot^  ^^^  Menophilus 

return  from  exUe.     Ty~'  J^  „f  ^^^^  ^hat  was 

directed  the  work,  and  we  Know  ui 

uov:3;3';IV.  I5.i;8a.  i;i5.  10. 

Ill  V.  12,  2. 

112x11.22,  2;  XIII.  33,  3. 

^  °UT3  VdtS  t^a^r  ?eserv^rd  until  he  could  buy 

him  and  returned  the  original  (II.  20,  6,  22.  7;. 

;"kran'i/eyficLtio„  of  this  Tyrannic  .vith  the  scholarly  freedman 
of  LucuUus,  see  Usener,  Unser  Platonlext. 


•Ills, 


^ 

y 


16 


TITUS  POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


doubtless  true  of  the  other  two,  that  he  was  qualified  by  his 
wide  acquaintance  with  literature  to  arrange  a  library."* 

Certain  slaves  were  expert  in  the  copying  of  manuscripts; 
in  fact,  the  copying  establishment  amounted  to  an  independent 
business ;  it  is  impossible  to  say  how  early  it  was  organized.  It 
may  have  been  an  outgrowth  of  work  done  in  the  early  col- 
lecting of  Greek  manuscripts,  or  it  may  have  grown  out  of 
Atticus*  interest  in  the  circulation  of  Cicero*s  works. 

These  works  were  regularly  submitted  to  Atticus  for  crit-l 
icism,  but  at  the  outset  it  is  not  certain  that  he  was  their  pub-| 
lisher.  In  6i,  we  find  him  reading  and  criticizing  a  collection 
of  Cicero's  orations;  these  had  been  put  into  book  form,  pos- 
sibly by  Cicero's  slaves,  for  the  benefit  of  the  younger  genera- 
tion of  orators,  and  were  perhaps  already  in  circulation."* 
Further  works  were  promised  later,  orations  and  the  Prognos- 
liVo.****  In  60,  in  sending  the  memoir  on  his  consulate,  Cicero 
made  Atticus  responsible  for  the  sale  of  it  in  Greece ;  as  he  had 
already  sent  a  copy  to  Posidonius,  it  seems  improbable  that 
Atticus  was  the  editor."^  In  57,  however,  Cicero  said,  in 
promising  to  Atticus  the  manuscript  of  De  Donto,  that  it  should 
be  put  at  once  into  the  hands  of  the  students  of  oratory  ;^^^  the 
presumption  that  Atticus  was  to  attend  to  the  work  of  copying 
and  distribution  is  very  strong.  He  seems  to  have  controlled 
the  publication  of  Cicero's  work  in  56,  when  Cicero  asked 
whether  he  would  permit  the  circulation  of  a  recent  poem  ;'^^ 
the  question  may,  however,  imply  nothing  more  than  that  he 
was  an  authority  on  the  political  expediency  of  such  publication. 

The  first  conclusive  evidence  that  Atticus  published  books  is 
in  a  letter  of  55,  in  which  Cicero  told  him  that  he  might  pro- 
ceed  with  the  copying  of  De  Oratore;  even  this  might  conceiv- 
ably  mean  only  that  Atticus  made  a  copy  for  himself .^^* 

I    *"  IV.  4a.  I ;  5.  3 ;  8.  2. 

'*•!.  I3f  5;  I4f  3;  II.  If  3. 

»2*»I.  16,  18;  II.  I,  3  and  11.  ^^i  j.  jg^  10;  II.  i,  2. 

i«2  IV,  2,  2.  i2>  IV.  8a,  5. 

*2*  IV.  13,  2.  In  September  of  54,  Cicero  in  writing  to  Quintus  said 
that  any  work  of  his  was  destined  to  be  known  among  the  very  school- 
boys, showing  that  all  his  work  was  published  {Ad  Q.  F.  III.  i,  11). 


/ 


I ' 


ii 


%  !   I 


ATTICUS  AS   MAN   OF  BUSINESS. 


17 


For  the  next  decade,  there  is  adequate  evidence  for  Atticus' 
publication  of  contemporary  works.    In  46,  he  reviewed  and 
published  the  Oratory-^    In  May  of  45,  Cicero  sent  him  two 
books  of  the  Academica  and  one  of  De  Finibus;  in  June,  on 
changing  the  plan  of  the  Academica,  he  asked  to  have  the  first 
edition  abandoned  and  a  new  one  begun.^^e    j^^  j^j^^  Atticus 
had  three  copyists,  Pharnaces,  Antaeus  and  Salvius,  making  a 
number  of  copies  of  the  Pro  Ligario;  Cicero  asked  to  have  the 
three  instructed  as  to  a  correction.^"    j^  July  of  44,  Cicero 
sent  the  manuscript  of  De  Gloria,  which  he  asked  to  have 
copied  out  in  handsome  style  on  large  sheets ;  two  weeks  later, 
he  realized  that  he  had  sent  with  it  a  preface  that  he  had  used 
in  the  Academica,  and  asked  Atticus,  taking  for  granted  that 
by  the  time  his  letter  reached  Atticus  from  Vibo,  the  early  part 
of  the  work  would  be  done,  to  dry  off  the  preface  from  the  roll 
and  glue  on  another  one.^^s    i^  October,  he  sent  the  second 
Philippic,  with  the  agreement  that  it  should  not  be  published 
while  Antony's  power  was  unimpaired;  in  November,  he  and 
Atticus    were    discussing    corrections    to    be    made    in    the 
original."** 

The  only  work  other  than  Cicero's  which  we  are  certain  that 
Atticus  published  is  Hirtius*  Anti-Cat 0,.  the  mansucript  of 
which  was  sent  directly  to  his  copyists  by  Cicero.^^^  Possibly 
Brutus'  Cato  had  already  been  put  out  by  the  same  establish- 
ment, ^^i  Atticus  may  have  published  the  recent  speech  of  his 
kinsman  Quintus  Celer  which  Cicero  asked  to  have  forwarded 
to  him  in  Asia.^^^ 

The  volume  of  portraits  published  by  Atticus^"  was  doubt- 

"!H!!-  ^'  *  correction  in  all  copies  was  entrusted  to  his  slaves. 
««  XIII.  S2,  3 ;  13,  I. 

Ill  ^lll-  ^J*  ^^  correction  was  not  made  (Pro  Ligario,  33). 
"8  XVI.  2,  6;  3,  I ;  6,  4. 
"»  XV.  13,  I  and  7;  XVI.  II.  I  and  2. 
"0  XII.  40,  I ;  48.  I. 

"1  Atticus  reviewed  it,  sending  his  criticisms  to  the  author ;  Cicero's 
comments  on  the  ensumg  correspondence  may  imply  that  Brutus  had 

n™.i    A"*^^*^*"  ^"'*'"'  ^?  .a.P"bIishej  rather  than  a  critic  and  conse- 
quently did  not  welcome  criticism  (XII.  21,  i). 

i«  VI.  3,  10.  183  Pliny,  H.  N.  35,  11. 


V- 


iniiiiHi 

f 


TITUS  POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


less  the  work  of  his  own  copyists.  Proceeding  from  this  as- 
sumption, Leo  ascribes  to  Atticus'  publishing  house  such  works 
as  the  illustrated  manuscripts  of  Terence  and  the  Vatican  illus- 
trations of  Vergil."* 

Atticus  evidently  had  competitors  in  the  business  of  publish- 
ing. Cicero  praised  his  astuteness  in  promoting  the  sale  of  the 
Pro  Ligario  and  promised  to  entrust  all  further  works  to  his 
auctioning;"*  this  does  not  sound  as  if  Atticus  had  previously 
held  a  monopoly  contract  for  the  publication  and  sale  of  Cicero's 
works.  Moreover,  when  Cicero  discovered  that  a  tentative 
edition  of  De  Finibus  which  was  in  Atticus*  hands  had  been 
copied  by  Balbus  and  that  Caerellia  had  also  procured  a  copy, 
doubtless  from  the  same  source,  he  showed  in  his  protest  that 
there  were  other  places  at  which  his  writings  might  be  pub- 
lished, and  that  Atticus*  establishment  was  simply  the  preferred 
one  of  its  class."* 

There  is  no  evidence  as  to  the  distribution  of  profits  between 
author  and  publisher.  Probably  the  author  got  no  money ;  on 
the  other  hand,  he  seems  to  have  taken  no  risks ;  when  the  first 
edition  of  the  Academica  was  condemned,  Cicero  apparently 
assumed  that  Atticus  would  bear  the  loss."^ 

Our  only  measure  of  Atticus'  standards  of  honor  in  business 
must  be  taken  from  Cicero's  estimate.  While  Cicero  spent 
money  freely  and  had  a  tendency  to  run  into  debt,  he  had  a 
strong  sense  of  the  elementary  business  obligations;  he  con- 

114  Rkein.  Mus,  38,  317-347. 

^•»  XIII.  12,  2. 

"•Atticus  apologized  for  this  indiscretion,  excusing  himself  on  the 
ground  of  the  pressure  from  Balbus,  whom  he  could  hardly  disoblige ; 
Cicero  recognized  this  excuse  as  valid.  About  the  provenience  of 
Caerellia's  copy,  or  indeed  about  the  existence  of  the  copy,  we  know 
nothing.    XIII.  21a,  i  and  2;  22,  3. 

*»^  For  the  value  of  a  manuscript  that  Atticus  had  edited,  cf.  Fronto, 
Ep.  1,  7.  Naber,  p.  20.  For  identification  of  Atticus  with  the  Atticus 
of  Lucian,  irpdt  t6v  dvalSevrof^  2  and  24,  and  for  a  theory  that  Atticus 
edited  Demosthenes,  Isocrates  and  Plato,  using  the  library  of  Aristotle 
that  Sulla  brought  to  Rome,  and  issuing  a  text  to  compete  with  that 
issued  in  Alexandria,  see  Usener,  Unser  Phtontext.  Gott.  Nachr.,  1892. 
igS.    For  bibliography  of  the  discussion,  see  Dziatzko,  P.  W„    'ArrUiavi,. 


J^jLmJlllllI'll,  unjk 


/...,„ 


%  ''  I 


•       II       • 


ATTICUS   AS    MAN   OF  BUSINESS. 


sidered  it  a  disgrace  for  him  not  to  pay  his  debts  and  for  other 
people  not  to  pay  theirs ;  he  wished  not  to  get  the  better  of  the 
other  side  in  his  business  relations  and  he  dreaded  the  ap- 
pearance of  doing  so.  In  several  cases  where  he  felt  that  he 
was  in  danger  on  the  latter  point,  he  committed  the  affair  to 
Atticus*  management,  asking  that  his  interests  should  be  sac- 
rificed rather  than  his  honor  called  in  question.  He  assumed 
that  Atticus'  anxiety  on  this  point  was  at  least  equal  to  his 


138 


own. 

The  financial  aspect  of  the  lifelong  connection  between  Cicero 
and  Atticus  calls  for  special  mention.  Cicero  was  indebted  to 
Atticus  for  long  years  of  business  services,  some  of  them 
doubtless  paid  by  commission,  but  many  of  them  representing 
a  personal  sacrifice  of  time  and  toil.  Atticus  was  indebted  to 
Cicero  for  the  reinforcement  of  his  efforts,  in  times  when  his 
financial  interests  were  at  the  mercy  of  official  decisions,  by  all 
the  prestige  of  the  consular.^^*'  However,  Atticus*  stewardship 
of  Cicero's  aflFairs  was  on  a  business  basis.  Nepos  says  that 
when  Cicero  was  exiled  Atticus  gave  him  2,500,000  ses- 
terces ;^*°  this  may  be  true ;  it  is  certainly  true  that  on  coming 
into  his  inheritance,  Atticus  begged  Cicero  to  draw  on  this  for- 
tune to  any  extent  and  to  prefer  his  assistance  to  that  of  any 
one  else,^*^  that  at  that  time  and  always  afterwards,  Cicero  felt 
that  if  ever  his  own  resources  really  failed  him,  Atticus  stood 
ready  to  help  him,  that  in  48,  when  Pliilogejies'  peculations 
threatened  his  credit,  he  realized  that  if  a  legacy  had  not  saved 
the  situation,  Atticus  would  have  done  so,^*^  that  when  Tullia's 
fortunes  were  involved  by  his  losses,  he  committed  her  to  At- 
ticus* care.^*'^  Yet  there  is  abundant  evidence  in  the  letters 
that,  apart  from  political  crises  involving  utter  helplessness, 
Cicero  did  not  ask  nor  avail  himself  of  Atticus'  generosity,  but 

"»  V.  8,  2  and  3 ;  XII.  19,  4;  21,  3,  cut  tu  es  conscius;  cf.  I.  17,  5. 
i3»  Cf.  the  Buthrotum  affair. 

1*0^//.  4,4- 
i«  III.  20,  2. 

"2  XI.  2,  I ;  cf.  24,  3. 

"3X1.  7,  6;  9;  3;  17;  25,  3. 


20 


TITUS   POMPONIUS   ATTICUS. 


maintained  his  financial  integrity  even  when  he  felt  himself 
sorely  pressed  for  money. 

The  letters  of  51  furnish  direct  evidence  on  Atticus*  attitude 
towards  thost  great  fields  of  exploitation,  the  provinces.     His 
program  for  Cicero's  administration  of  Cilicia  shows  that  he 
was  eager  to  see  these  run  on  a  sound  business  basis.    While 
Cicero  claimed  that  he  had  strong  convictions  on  the  subject 
himself,  cherished  indeed  and  professed  through  many  years,"* 
and  that  the  practice  of  the  required  virtues  gave  him  unex- 
ampled pleasure,"*  he  still  constantly  referred  to  Atticus  as 
the  inspirer  and  critic  of  his  efforts."*    It  was  under  Atticus' 
advice  that  he  decided  not  to  grant  a  prefecture  to  anyone  en- 
gaged in  money  lending  in  the  province,  a  rule  observed  even 
in  the  face  of  requests  from  Pompey  and  others  with  a  strong 
personal  claim  upon  him."^     Atticus'  ideas  may  be  further 
drawn   from  the  accounts  that  Cicero  rendered  to  him:  in 
travelling  through  the  province,  he  and  all  his  staff  refused, 
with  a  single  slight  exception,  to  accept  from  the  provincials 
even  the  provision  allowed  by  the  Julian  law,  itself  strict ;"» 
his  administration  of  the  courts  was  just,  serious  and  merci- 
ful ;"*  and  the  whole  system  of  closet  influence  was  done  away 
with  ;"<*  Ariobarzanes,  the  client  prince  of  Cappadocia,  was  so 
protected  from  the  harpies  preying  upon  him  and  so  stimulated 
to  the  payment  of  his  just  debts  as  to  become  quite  a  respectable 
figure  in  his  kingdom  ;"i  no  requisitionary  letters  were  sent  to 
the  citizens  of  the  province,  no  soldiers  were  billeted,  no  money 
was  extorted  by  the  threat  of  billeting;  the  grateful  provincials 
were  allowed  to  express  their  enthusiasm  only  in  words,  statues 
and  shrines  being  forbidden  as  a  drain  on  their  resources."^ 

"*  Cf.  Ad  Q.  F.  I.  I,  and  the  orations  passim. 

"*  V.  9,  I ;  20,  6. 

"•V.  15.  2;  22,  6;  VI.  I,  8;  2,  8. 

"»VI.  1.6. 

"«V.  16,3;  21,5;  etc. 

"»  V.  20,  I. 

"0  VI.  2,  s 

"1 V.  20,  d 

182  V.  21,  7. 


4» 


M*' 


ATTICUS   AS   MAN   OF  BUSINESS. 


21 


After  one  such  enumeration  Cicero  expressly  said,  "Endure 
my  recital  of  my  merits,  for  it  was  you  that  wished  me  to  act 
thus."i^3    With  like  confidence  in  Atticus'  satisfaction  he  wrote 
about  his  treatment  of  the  various  foreign  elements  in  the  prov- 
ince: after  the  failure  of  the  harvest,  by  the  weight  of  his 
prestige  and  by  his  persuasive  eloquence,  without  commands 
or  threats,  he  induced  the  Greeks  and  Romans  who  had  cor- 
nered the  market  to  relax  their  hold  on  the  grain  ;^"  the  Greeks 
were  allowed  to  have  courts  of  their  own  under  their  own  laws, 
and  felt  as  if  they  were  autonomous  ;^'^'^  the  piiblicani  were 
humored  and  kept  within  bounds,  so  as  to  injure  no  one;  they 
were  the  creditor  class,  against  whom  Cicero  was  struggling  to 
keep  down  interest  to  12  per  cent.,  but  he  followed  a  policy  of 
compromise  that  might  have  been  a  leaf  from  Atticus'  own 
book,  pronouncing  that  debts  paid  within  a  certain  time  should 
bear  a  12  per  cent,  interest,  while  those  running  on  should  be 
subject  to  whatever  interest  was  written  in  the  contract  ;^^'  the 
Greek  magistrates  were  persuaded  by  a  friendly  pressure  to 
Reimburse  the  state  for  their  peculations  of  the  preceding  dec- 
ade, thus  making  possible  the  payment  of  taxes  long  in  arrears ; 
Cicero  anticipated  Atticus'  pleasure  in  the  deliverance  or  par- 
tial relief  of  the  cities  from  their  crushing  weight  of  debt."^ 
Atticus  responded  enthusiastically  to  these  accounts,  showing 
an  anxious  interest  in  the  practicability  of  such  high  ideals.^^* 
The  position  that  Atticus  took  during  this  very  year  in  the 
Sala'minian  affair  seems  to  belie  these  honorable  sentiments; 
in  his  eagerness  to  see  Brutus  enabled  to  collect  a  debt  from 
the  Salaminians,  he  recommended  that  Cicero  should  assign  a 
troop  of  horse  to  Brutus'  agent,  the  ruffian  who  under  Appius* 
proconsulate  had  laid  siege  to  the  senate  of  Salamis  and  starved 
five  of  the  members  to  death.^^*    However,  Atticus  did  not 

"»V.^i,7. 
"4  V.  21,  8. 

»5VI.  MS.  .  - 

"•VI.  X,  16. 

1"  VI.  2,  4  and  s. 

»«  VII.  I,  5 ;  3,  8. 

»»VI.  I,  6;2,  8. 


22 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


know  the  facts ;  his  information  came  from  Brutus,  who  was 
probably  himself  ill  informed  as  to  the  character  and  proceed- 
ings of  his  middleman,  and  dependent  for  his  estimate  of  the 
situation  on  the  representations  of  unscrupulous  agents;  he 
may  have  been  somewhat  ashamed  of  his  48  per  cent,  bond 
and  somewhat  ambiguous  about  it,  for  when  Cicero  first  wrote 
of  the  Salaminian  affair  he  did  not  know  that  Brutus  was  a 
principal  in  the  transaction.  Writing  on  February  24,  he  put 
Atticus  in  possession  of  all  the  facts ;  there  is  no  indication 
that  Atticus  protested  after  he  learned  these.^*"* 

The  testimony  of  these  letters  gives  weight  to  Nepos'  state- 
ments about  the  conduct  of  Atticus  toward  the  Athenians.  He 
evidently  had  a  humane  interest  in  the  provinces  and  dependent 
cities,  as  well  as  the  interest  of  a  sound  business  man  in  their 
prosperity,  and  believed  their  salvation  to  lie  in  bringing  them- 
selves—or,  i  f  the  initial  steps  were  too  difficult,  in  being  brought 
—into  a  condition  of  financial  integrity  and  responsibility. 

— 1***  Y^aI:-^'  ?'  *^  *^  ^^*^5  ^^^^  Cicero  wrote  a  second  letter  of  protest 
igamst  Atticus  request,  but  it  is  most  unlikely  that  he  had  received 
from  Atticus  any  answer  to  his  letter  of  February  24  before  writing 
^n  F.h^«a^"L^^^''' J^-  ^  ^"  J""S  Cicero  answered,  for  example, 

^nrf  fhn«t/f*t  ?.  ^^^^Ti^'  ^  *^"^u'  ^'.^'^  ^"^*^"s  ^^^^d  December  29 
and  though  a  letter  could  cover  the  longer  distance  from  Rome  to 

Cybistra  m  47  days  (V.  19,  i),  it  is  likely  that  letters  between  Atticus 
m  tpirus,  often  removed  from  the  routes  of  travel,  and  Cicero  in 
Cilicia  took  two  months  to  reach  their  destination.  The  internal  evi- 
dence of  the  letters  makes  it  practically  certain  that  Cicero  had  no 
aunswcr  from  Atticus  on  the  subject  before  writing  VI.  2  and  3-  if 
there  had  been  an  mtervening  letter  from  Atticus,  so  long  a  letter  as 
rLff^r  vl'^'n  """17<^"s  evidences  of  it,  whereas  it  gives  none. 
Contra.  Gurhtt  a  P.  W„  1900,  1422,  with  intent  to  account  for  varia- 
tions between  VI.  I,  5.  and  VI.  2,  7,  on  the  ground  that  Cicero  made 
two  different  propositions.  Gurlitt  takes  Ais  Brutum  cupere  aliquid 
jerifer^  as  proof  that  Brutus  sent  a  message  through  Atticus  after  the 
two  had  discussed  the  subject  on  the  basis  of  Cicero's  representations- 
tne  context  at  this  point  seems  to  me  especially  to  preclude  the  idea  of 
an  exchange  of  comment  on  the  subject. 


J 


y-.. 


I 


ATTICUS  AS  MAN  OF  LETTERS. 

The  father  of  Atticus  was  a  man  of  scholarly  pursuits  and 
intellectual  associations^  who  considered  his  son's  education  a 
matter  of  prime  importance.^ 

Among  the  schoolmates  of  Atticus,  Nepos  mentions  Lucius 
Torquatus,  Gains  Marius  the  younger  and  Marcus  Cicero.' 
It  is  safe  to  attribute  to  the  education  of  Atticus  a  considerable 
similarity  to  that  of  Cicero,  and  there  are  many  points  at  which 
the  training  of  the  two  proves  to  be  identical.  The  instruction 
under  schoolmasters  included  the  subjects  set  forth  by  Cicero 
in  De  Oratore,  music,  mathematics,  poetry,  history,  elocution, 
debate.*    A  few  more  specific  details  may  be  gathered. 

There  is  no  direct  evidence  that  Atticus  studied  under  Stilo, 
but  as  Stilo  added  to  his  grammatical,  literary  and  philosoph- 
ical studies  a  strong  interest  in  Roman  legal  antiquities,^  the 
references  made  by  Cicero  in  De  Legihus  to  common  boyhood 
studies  in  this  field,*  together  with  the  antiquarian  interest  in 
Roman  law  ascribed  to  Atticus  as  interlocutor  in  the  same 
book,'  are  strong  presumptive  evidence  that  Atticus  shared 
with  Cicero®  the  instruction  of  Stilo,  and  that  he  like  Varro 
drew  from  Stilo  his  interest  in  Roman  antiquities,  l^al,  his- 
torical and  literary.®     The  boys  learned  by  rote  the  Twelve 

*  A  work  on  civil  law  was  dedicated  to  him  by  his  friend  Junius 
{De  Leg,  III.  49),  commonly  identified  with  the  Junius  Gracchanus  of 
Pliny,  N,  H.  XXXIII.  35,  and  by  Cichorius  with  Junius  Congus,  whom 
he  considers  idehtical  with  Gracchanus.  Untersuchungen  su  LuciUus, 
125-124.) 

2  Att  I,  2. 
^Att.  I,  4. 

*  I.  187 ;  for  a  presentation  of  the  evidence  on  Cicero's  education,  see 
Sihler,  Cicero  of  Arpinum,  ch.  I. 

»  He  edited  the  Axamenta  Saliorum  and  the  Twelve  Tables. 

•  II.  9  and  59 ;  cf .  Brut.  99. 

MI.  45,  48;  III.  47  ff. 

•  Brut.  20/7. 

» Ihid,  205-207. 

23 


r 


24 


TITUS  POMPONIUS   ATTICUS. 


ATTICUS  AS   MAN   OF  LETTERS. 


25 


Tables,  a  practice  out  of  date  forty  years  later.^°  They  read 
such  speeches  of  Roman  statesmen  as  were  extant,  even  learn- 
ing some  by  heart.  In  this  connection  there  are  mentioned 
speeches  of  Fannius,"  Curio,"  Galba,"  Fimbria.^*  From 
references  less  definitely  assigned  to  boyhood  may  be  added 
those  of  Cato,  Lepidus,  Africanus,  Carbo,"  Crassus^«  and 
Scaevola*^  This  course  of  reading  probably  extended  beyond 
the  years  of  study  under  Stilo.  Besides  ancient  Roman  ora- 
tory, the  boys  studied  Greek  oratory.  Atticus'  enthusiasm  for 
Lysias"  may  go  back  to  this  period.  Hierocles  and  Menocles, 
models  of  the  late  and  florid  Asiatic  school,  were  also  set  before 
them.^* 

Atticus  undoubtedly  shared  with  Cicero,  probably  under 
Stilo's  teaching,  that  enthusiastic  study  of  Ennius,  Naevius  and 
Lucilius  which  had  recently  become  a  feature  in  education.  He 
may  also  have  drawn  nearer  to  the  drama  of  the  elder  day 
through  conversation  with  Accius.^® 

It  was  probably  in  the  group  of  Stilo's  pupils  that  Atticus 
showed  the  superiority  in  declamation  mentioned  by  Nepos,^^ 
and  doubtless  here  was  formed  his  lasting  preference  for  the 
literature  of  the  Greeks. 

On  the  evidence  of  the  Brutus,  Atticus  attended  the  courts 
in  his  youth  to  hear  the  great  orators  plead.  As  interlocutor  in 
that  dialogue,  he  discusses  the  cultivation,  voice,  pronunciation, 
choice  of  words  and  gestures  of  Titus  Flamininus,  Catulus, 
Cotta,  Sisenna"  and  passes  judgment  from  his  own  impres- 

»«  De  Leg.  II.  59, 
"  Brut.  99. 
"Ibid.  122. 
*»Ibid.  127. 
"Ibid.  129. 
*»  Ibid.  292  ff. 
"  Ibid.  161. 
"  Ibid.  164. 
*'  Ibid.  293. 
»»  Brut,  325. 

l^Suet.,  De  Gram.  2;  Brut.  107. 
"  Att.  I,  3. 
«  Brut.  258  ff. 


sions  on  Crassus  and  Antony,  and,  doubtless  with  the  same 
basis,  on  Sulpicius  and  Caelius.=^»  He  counted  Sisenna  among 
his  personal  friends.^* 

Like  Cicero,  Atticus  frequented  the  house  of  the  augur  Scae- 
vola,2»  who  admitted  young  men  to  his  audiences  that  they 
might  build  up  a  knowledge  of  law  from  his  answers  to  those 
who  consuhed  him.2«  As  his  attendance  on  Scaevola  was  at 
least  in  part  contemporaneous  with  that  of  Cicero,  which  b^an 
about  89,27  we  may  suppose  that  he  was  pursuing  the  study  of 
law  at  nineteen  or  twenty.  It  is  likely  that  with  Cicero  he  lis- 
tened daily  in  88  to  the  speeches  of  his  kinsman  by  marriage, 
the  tribune  Sulpicius.^® 

As  the  lectures  of  the  philosopher  Philo  in  Rome  began 
before  the  end  of  88,  it  is  possible  that  Atticus  attended  them 
with  Cicero  before  leaving  Italy  for  Greece.^* 

In  Athens,  Atticus  probably  developed  at  once  that  enthu- 
siasm for  the  monuments  and  traditions  of  the  city  which 
Cicero  ascribes  to  him,^^  and  steadily  widened  his  acquaintance 
with  Greek  literature  and  antiquities.^^  Sulla,  who  was  in 
Athens  during  the  winter  of  84-^3,  was  charmed  with  his  reci- 
tation from  the  Greek  and  Latin  poets.^^ 

Sometime  before  79,  Atticus  began  to  frequent  the  gardens 
of  Epicurus,  where  Phaedrus  and  Zeno  were  then  lecturing.^' 
The  Epicureans  had  at  the  time  small  social  recognition ;  they 
had  never  enjoyed  a  high  repute  as  men  of  letters.**  Phaedrus 
was  doubtless  a  man  of  outstanding  ability  among  them.*^    If 

2»  Brut.  292  ff . 
2*  Brut.  260. 
25  De  Leg.  I.  13. 
2«  Brut.  306. 

27  De  Amicitia,  i.    Brut,  306. 

28  Brut.  306. 

20  n'^f    '^T?'-  ^'a^^^."  ?"^  '2'  c^-  Reiki's  Introduction. 
^^De  Leg.  II.  4;  De  Fm.  V.  4;  De  Sen.  1. 

llAdFam.  VII.  31.  2;  XlU.Xs. 
^2  Nep.  Att.  41 

34  T^  ^%  ^-  ^'  ''.^/  ^;?-  y-  3 '  ^^^-  ^'^''- 1-  21. 59. 

II  l^'i''^^'  7  V^  ^'^^  ^^'^^  XV.  19,  2;  In  Pis.  70. 
«5  Nat.  Deor.  I.  93 ;  Phil.  V.  13. 


2e 


TITUS   POMPONIUS   ATTICUS. 


Cicero's  early  admiration  for  Phaedrus,  tempered  later  by  at- 
tendance on  the  lectures  of  Philo,'*  grew  out  of  hearing  Phae- 
drus lecture  in  Rome,  as  has  been  supposed,'^  then  it  is  most 
probable  that  Atticus  also  heard  him  in  Rome  and  that  the  en- 
thusiasm then  awakened  led  him  to  enroll  himself  among  the 
Epicureans  in  Athens. 

In  79  there  was  gathered  in  Athens  a  group  of  fiyt  young 
Romans,^®  Marcus  Cicero,  his  brother  Quintus,  his  cousin 
Lucius,  Marcus  Pupius  Piso  and  Titus  Pomponius,  who  was 
even  then  so  far  an  Athenian  in  spirit  that  Cicero,  writing  of 
the  time,  said  that  he  was  likely  to  have  bestowed  on  him  the 
cognomen  Atticus.^*  The  five  attended  in  the  Ptolemaeum  the 
lectures  of  Antiochus  of  Ascalon,  the  disciple  and  successor  of 
Philo  in  the  Academic  school.***  Cicero  testifies  that  his  own 
attendance  on  the  lectures  lasted  six  months.*^  In  De  Legibus, 
he  makes  Atticus  confess  to  having  been  almost  led  away  from 
the  Epicurean  gardens  by  the  teaching  of  Antiochus,  with 
whom  he  formed  a  warm  friendship.*' 

Both  Atticus  and  Cicero  were  initiated  into  the  Eleusinian 
mysteries.  Atticus  is  represented  in  De  Legibus*^  as  defend- 
ing the  mysteries — at  least  as  practised  at  Athens — from  the 
imputations  of  the  writers  of  comedy,  and  eliciting  from  Cicero 
a  tribute  to  their  spiritual  import.  In  67,  he  was  consulted  by 
the  poet  Thyillus  about  the  customs  of  the  priestly  family  of 
the  Eumolpidae.** 

By  67,  the  second  year  represented  in  the  extant  correspond- 
ence, he  had  become  a  connoisseur  in  objects  of  art.  He  se- 
lected for  Cicero*s  Tusculan  villa  Megaric  seals,**  herms  of 

^•AdFam.  XIII.  1,2. 

*^  So,  e.g.,  Tyrrell  on  Ad  Fam.  XIII.  i,  2. 

»8  De  Fin.  V.  i. 

••  De  Fin.  V.  4. 

*•  De  Fin.  V.  i. 

«  Brut.  315. 

«I.  54. 

*'  II.  35-36. 

**  I.  9,  2 ;  16,  15, 

«l4.3. 


ATTICUS  AS   MAN   OF  LETTERS. 


27 


Pentelic  marble  with  bronze  heads,**  bas  reliefs,*^  embossed 
well  covers,**  a  Hermathena.*«    He  was  a  student  of  landscape 
gardening  and  developed  his  grounds  at  Buthrotum,  preserving 
the  natural  beauty  of  its  streams  and  plane  trees,  and  dedicating 
a  part  of  the  gardens  to  the  nymph  Amalthea,^**  so  as  to  arouse 
the  emulation  of  Cicero,  who  pressed  for  instructions  as  to 
how  he  should  make  an  Amaltheum  at  Arpinum.*^    He  was  a 
master  too  in  the  arrangement  of  a  library ;  his  system  of  well- 
ordered  shelves,  probably  his  own  device,^^  ^^^d  of  title  cards 
attached  to  the  rolls,  served  both  convenience  and  beauty.'^' 
In  55,  he  was  called  upon  to  arrange  the  statues  and  pictures  in 
the  theatre  that  Pompey  was  about  to  dedicate  f*  about  twenty 
years  later,  Augustus  employed  him  to  restore  the  temple  of 
Jupiter  Feretrius.^* 

Atticus  had  stored  in  his  house  on  the  Quirinal  a  library 
which   Cicero  used   in  the  composition   of   his   philosophical 
works.°«     Doubtless  both  men's  libraries  contained  the  older 
Greek  classics ;  Cicero  seems  to  have  drawn  upon  Atticus  espe- 
cially for  Alexandrian  and  contemporary  writers.     The  fol- 
lowing books  are  mentioned  in  the  correspondence : 
Atticus  received  from  Cicero 
T07ro$€(ria  Miseni  et  Puteolorum  (I.  13,  5). 
Demetrius  Magnes  (IV.  11,  2). 
Cicero  received  from  Atticus 

*•  I.  8,  2. 
*^  I.  10,  3. 
*®  I.  10,  3. 
*•  I.  4,  3. 

»o  On  the  question  whether  the  Amaltheum  was  a  small  basilica  or 
?  u  ^j  ^  R^^^  °/  }^^  gardens  adorned  with  statues,  etc..  see  O    E 
Schmidt,  Neue  Jahrb    111,  1899.  340  ff.;  Schiche,  Z.Gi^Usyc 
I^'^^T^f/  ^T"  ?iLorenzina  Cesano;  F.  G.  Moore,  cSJ?.  Phiil. 
e^'e  Wernicke,  P.  W.  I.  1723,  considers  the  Amaltheum  an 

"  I.*  16,  18. 

f!  lYr'  ^'  ^'  '"''  Pegmaia;  so  Tyrrell. 
"  IV.  4a,  I ;  8,  2. 

"  IV.  9,  I. 

*5  Nep.  Att.  20,  4. 

"  IV.  14,  I ;  XV.  27,  2;  De  Fin.  II.  67. 


28 


TITUS   POMPONIUS   ATTICUS. 


Poems  or  histories  about  Amalthea  (I.  i6,  i8). 

Serapion  on  geography  (II.  4,  i ;  6,  i). 

Poems  of  Alexander  of  Ephesus  on  geography  (II.  20,  6; 

22,  7). 
Writings  of  Varro:  a  work  not  specified  (IV.  14,  i)  ;  a 

laudatio  (XIII.  48,  2)  ;  a  dialogue  (XV.  13,  3). 
Demetrius  Magnes*  On  Concord  (VIII.  11,  7;  12,  6;  IX. 

9,2). 
Tyrannio's  On  Accents  (XII.  2,  2;  6,  2). 
Dicaearchus'  On  the  Soul  and  The  Descent  (XIII.  31,  i ; 

32,2). 
Brutus*  epitome  of  Caelius  Antipater  (XIII.  8). 

Panaetius*  wepi  irp^voias  (XIII.  8). 

Phaedrus'  On  the  Gods  (XIII.  39). 

Cotta's  historical  monograph  (XIII.  44,  3). 
Cicero  discusses  with  Atticus  or  refers  to 

Dicaearchus'  On  Pallene,  Corinth,  Athens  (II.  2,  2). 

Procilius'  On  Geography  (II.  2,  2). 

Theophrastus'  On  Ambition  (II.  3,  4). 

Eratosthenes,  Hipparchus,  Tyrannio  on  geography   (II. 
6,  I). 

Vennonius'  Annals  (XII.  3,  i). 

Antisthenes*  Cyrus  (XII.  38a,  2). 

Aristotle's  letter  to  Alexander  (XII.  40^.  2). 

Theopompus*  letter  to  Alexander  (XII.  40,  2). 

Varro's  v€wXoypa<l>ia  XVI.  II,  3. 

Annals  of  Libo  and  Casca  XIII.  44,  3. 

Panaetius  and  Posidonius  on  Duty  XVI.  11,  4. 
From  the  nature  of  the  comments  it  may  be  concluded  that 
Atticus  also  read  most  of  the  books  on  these  lists.  He  was  a 
diligent  reader  of  Timaeus"  and  of  Dicaearchus,  whom  he 
championed  in  his  advocacy  of  the  life  of  action  against  Cicero's 
favorite  Theophrastus,  who  praised  the  life  of  reflection.'^* 

»'  Cicero  calls  Timaeus  tuus  familiaris  in  writing  to  Atticus,  VI.  1, 18. 

58  II.  16,  3;  VI.  2,  3.  The  debate  was  purely  academic,  as  both  men 
led  busy  lives  and  it  was  Cicero  who  had  chosen  the  career  allowing 
less  leisure. 


ATTICUS   AS    MAN   OF  LETTERS. 


29 


References  imply  that  he  was  familiar  with  the  politico-philo- 
sophical works  of  Theopompus''*  and  Heraclides.®**  His  use  of 
Apollodorus  in  matters  of  chronology  is  stated  in  the  letters," 
that  of  Polybius  implied.®^ 

As  the  references  to  books  in  the  letters  are  nearly  all  con- 
nected with  Cicero's  literary  labors,  they  are  limited  to  philos- 
ophy, politics  and  history.  .  Atticus*  own  reading  seems  to  have 
been  especially  in  the  realm  of  politics  and  history.®'  Further 
evidence  on  the  scope  of  his  historical  reading  may  be  gathered 
from  the  dialogues.  These  imply  that  he  was  widely  read  in 
the  Greek  historians;  Cicero  makes  him  speak  with  .enthusiasm 
of  Philistius,  Thucydides  and  the  orator  Lysias,***  and  criticize 
Stratocles  and  Clitarchus  for  their  romantic  tendency,  citing 
the  superior  authority  of  Thucydides.®*  Again,  he  appears  as 
a  reader  and  critic  of  the  Roman  annalists ;  Cicero  assigns  to 
him  a  series  of  brief  comments  on  these,  including  Fabius 
Pictor,  Cato,  Piso,  Fannius,  Vennonius,  Caelius  Antipater, 
Claudius,  Asellio,  Licinius  Macer  and  Sisenna;*®  these  com- 
ments give  him  opportunity  to  express  his  strong  preference 
for  the  style  of  the  Greek  historians.  In  De  Legibus,  he  refers 
to  his  reading  of  augural  books.®^ 

The  dialogues  give  evidence  of  Atticus*  deep  enthusiasm  for 
Plato,  whom  he  upholds  against  the  criticism  of  the  Epicurean 
school®*  and  whose  irony  he  discusses  with  keen  appreciation." 

Evidence  for  the  range  of  Atticus  in  the  field  of  poetry  and 
the  drama  may  be  found  in  the  quotations  that  Cicero  makes  in 

5»  II.  6.  2. 

«o  XV.  4.  3. 

«i  XII.  23,  2. 

•2XIII.  30,  2;  cf.  De  Rep.  II.  27. 

«3  E.g.,  he  seems  not  to  have  read  the  works  of  Posidonius  and 
Panaetius  referred  to  in  XVI.  11,  4. 

^*Brut.  293  f. 

«5  Brut.  41  ff. 

««  De  Leg.  I.  5  ff. 

•^  II.  32. 

«8  De  Leg.  III.  i. 

^^  Brut.  20)2, 2gg;  cf.Hirzcl,  Untersuchung  su  Ciceros  Philosophischen 
Schriften  II.  367-369. 


so 


TITUS   POMPONIUS   ATTICUS. 


ATTICUS  AS   MEN   OF  LETTERS. 


31 


the  letters,  most  of  them  without  reference  to  the  author,  many 
of  them  so  brief  as  to  require  a  knowledge  of  the  context  in 
order  to  catch  their  implication.  Of  these  quotations  eighteen 
are  from  the  Iliad  and  twelve  from  the  Odyssey,  in  both  cases 
from  the  whole  range  of  the  poems.  There  are  besides  quota- 
tions from  Hesiod,  Stesichorus,  Archilochus,  Epicharmus,  Pin- 
dar, three,  Aristophanes,  Sophocles,  at  least  three,  Euripides, 
twelve,  Strattis,  Rhinthon,  Menander,  Leonidas  of  Tarentum, 
Ennius,  four,  Lucilius,  five,  Pacuvius,  Atilius,  Afranius,  Ter- 
ence, three.  Other  quotations  in  the  letters  have  not  been 
placed,  and  there  are  numerous  proverbs  both  Latin  and  Greek. 
Cicero  especially  mentions  the  admiration  of  Atticus  for  Sopho- 
cles.^" Atticus  seems  to  have  detected  the  incorrect  citation  of 
Eupolis  for  Aristophanes  in  the  Orator.'^ 

Atticus  was  a  lover  of  learning.  Cicero  addressed  him  as  the 
companion  and  inspirer  of  that  life  of  study  and  philosophic 
calm  with  which  he  tried  to  solace  himself  on  his  enforced  with- 
drawal from  political  life."'^  He  ascribes  to  him  in  the  di- 
alogues broad  and  profound  ideas;  in  De  Legibus,  Atticus 
appreciates  and  seconds  the  attempt  to  reach  a  philosophical 
basis  for  jurisprudence ;"  in  his  disparagement  of  the  Latin 
historians  it  is  evidently  not  only  the  grand  manner  of  the 
Greeks  but  also  their  philosophical  treatment  of  the  subject 
that  he  misses.^*  At  the  same  time,  he  was  a  careful  worker 
in  details ;  to  his  patience  and  care  was  entrusted  such  chrono- 
logical and  genealogical  investigation  as  Cicero  needed  in  his 
writing.'* 

The  letters  show  Atticus  a  purist  in  speech,  passing  judg- 

^0 II.  7.  4. 

"  XII.  6,  3- 

T2II.  i6,  3;  17.  I. 

"  I.  IS,  17' 

T«  De  Leg.  I.  5  ff. 

"XII.  5b;  20,  2;  22,2;  23,  2;  24,  2;  XIII.  30,  2;  32,  3;  4.  i;  5.  i;  6a; 
33f  3;  XVI.  13b,  2;  VI.  2,  3.  Atticus  is  found  in  error  in  VL  i,  18; 
XII.  5b.  Editors  comment  on  the  fact  that  the  elliptical  question  about 
Scrvius  Galba  (XII.  5b)  presupposed  great  familiarity  with  the  subject 
on  the  part  of  Atticus. 


^ 


.:^V' 


i  I  -^ 


ment  especially  on  the  form  of  Greek  names  used  in  Latin 
writing'*  and  on  the  selection  of  Latin  equivalents  for  Greek 
philosophical  terms.^^  Occasionally  he  contested  with  Cicero 
the  use  of  a  Latin  word  or  the  choice  of  a  cadence.''*  In  the 
dialogues,  his  judgment  is  invoked  for  approval  of  the  Latin 
used  in  philosophical  treatises  drawn  from  the  Greek  f^  in  an 
encomium  on  the  oratory  of  Caesar  he  appears  as  the  champion 
of  purity,  freshness  and  distinction  in  speech.®** 
,  Cicero  expressed  his  appreciation  of  Atticus'  style  in  letter 
writing — of  the  realism  that  reproduced  the  very  shifting  of 
ideas  and  of  talk®^  and  brought  Rome  before  the  eyes  more 
vividly  than  the  living  voice  of  a  lively  young  guest  could  do,®* 
of  the  graciousness  of  correction  and  advice  in  letters  that 
were  enhanced  in  value  by  their  length  as  were  the  ianftbics  of 
Archilochus  in  the  eyes  of  Aristophanes  of  Byzantium,®*  of 
the  distinguished  and  polished  style  of  others.®*  His  most 
convincing  tribute  to  Atticus*  ability  and  discretion  as  a  letter 
writer  was  his  request  that  Atticus  send  letters  in  his  name 
whenever  he  thought  it  advisable.®** 

Cicero  employed  Atticus  as  the  constant  critic  of  his  writ- 
ings, usually  before  their  publication.  He  found  his  orations 
nearer  to  their  Attic  models  if  they  were  approved  by  Atticus,®* 
whom  he  counted  as  his  Aristarchus  ;®^  even  in  the  last  years  of 
his  life  he  professed  to  feel  uneasy  about  his  work  until  it  had 
passed  the  censorship  of  Atticus  with  credit.®®     Brutus  also 

7«  VI.  2,  3 ;  VII.  3.  10. 
"XII.  52,3;  XVI.  11,4;  14.3. 
78X111.21,3;  XVI.  11,2. 
«  De  Fin.  V.  96. 
80  Brut.  252-261. 
®i  II.  IS,  I. 

82  II.   12,  2;  Cf.  12,  4. 
88XVL1I,  2. 

8*  XVI.  13a,  I. 

««IIL  15.  8;  21;  XL  5.  3;  7,7;  12,4. 

®*  L  13,  5. 

8»  I.  14,  3 ;  cf.  II.  I,  I,  end. 

88  XVI.  II,  I.  Atticus*  criticisms  were  concerned  with  historical  ve- 
racity and  political  discretion  as  well  as  with  style.  For  a  mistake  that 
escaped  his  notice,  see  Gellius,  Noct.  Att.  XV.  6,  Ajax  for  Hector  in 


I 


! 


I 


32 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


submitted  work  to  Atticus  for  approval,  but  seems  not  to  have 
welcomed  general  criticism  and  perhaps  wanted  only  the  veri- 
fication of  his  facts.** 

Much  literary  work  was  produced  in  the  circle  of  Atticus' 
friends,  no  small  part  of  it  under  his  advice  and  stimulus.  At 
his  dinners  there  was  no  other  entertainment  offered,  says 
Nepos,  than  the  reading  of  masterpieces  by  a  well  trained 
slave.®**  The  presentation  on  such  occasions  of  carefully  chosen 
excerpts  from  contemporary  work  must  have  served  as  a 
powerful  incentive  to  the  author's  assembled  friends.** 

The  speeches  of  Atticus  as  interlocutor  exhibit  him  as  eager 
to  have  Cicero  turn  his  abilities  to  the  composition  of  history, 
the  subject  in  which  he  was  most  interested  and  in  which  he 
felt  most  keenly  the  poverty  of  Roman  production  »^  He 
urged  historical  writing  upon  Nepos  and  suggested  subjects ; 
a  monograph  on  Cato,  distinct  from  that  in  the  Lives,  was 
written  by  Nepos  at  his  request.***  He  probably  exhorted 
Brutus  and  other  friends  to  the  same  effect. 

In  the  case  of  Cicero,  however,  the  letters  show  that  Atticus 
recommended  writing  sometimes  as  an  escape  from  mental 
unrest,  chiefly  as  a  substitute  for  political  action  when  the  latter 
was  out  of  the  question ;  the  work  that  he  suggested  was  in 
most  cases  of  a  political  sort  designed  to  influence  contemporary 
thought  and  to  promote  Cicero's  career  or  enforce  his  ideas 
when  other  means  to  that  end  were  lacking."  His  enthusiasm 
over  De  Re  Puhlica  doubtless  arose  from  its  bearing  on  ques- 

the  sceond  book  of  De  Gloria,  For  a  conjecture  as  to  another  error. 
rectified  in  composition  but  not  in  publication,  see  Norden,  Aus  Ciceros 
Werkstatt,  Sits,  Pr.  Ak,  19151  ^3- 

•»  XII.  21,  I ;  cf.  ch.  I.  n.  131. 

»•  Att.  14  I. 

•»XII.  4,2;  XVI.  2,6. 

•2  De  Leg.  I.  5-7. 

»3  Ncp.  Vit  24,  3,  5. 

•*  The  geographical  work  that  he  suggested  in  59  does  not  yet  show 
this  tendency,  and  seems  rather  a  makeshift  to  distract  Cicero;  it  was 
probably  suggested  to  Atticus  by  his  reading  in  Dicaearchus.  by  his  prac- 
tical interest  in  topography,  or  by  the  previous  work  of  Varro  in  the 
same  field. 


i 
W 


/ 


II 


fl 


f 


ATTICUS  AS  MAN  OF  LETTERS. 


33 


tions  of  statesmanship.  His  suggestions  for  the  historical 
background  of  one  political  treatise  show  that  he  was  scrupu- 
lous about  historical  accuracy  in  dealing  with  the  speakers  and 
that  he  had  applied  imagination  to  the  past,  investing  its  char- 
acters with  personality.®^ 

In  the  last  decade  of  his  life,  the  literary  and  historical  re- 
sources of  Atticus  were  drawn  upon  by  Augustus,  who  is  said 
in  his  absences  from  Rome  to  have  corresponded  assiduously 
with  Atticus,  consulting  him  as  an  authority  on  antiquities  and 
poetry.®* 

Of  the  literary  monuments  with  which  writers  were  wont  to 
compliment  their  friends,  Atticus  had  his  share.  Demetrius 
Magnes  dedicated  to  him  his  work  On  Concord  before  the  out- 
break of  the  Civil  War.®^  Cicero  introduced  him  into  a  num- 
ber of  his  dialogues.  In  De  Legibiis,  the  first  draft  of  which 
was  probably  written  in  52,  Atticus  appears  with  Marcus  and 
Quintus  Cicero,  and  has  assigned  to  him  some  quite  lively  dis- 
course on  philosophy  and  politics  together  with  a  critical  re- 
view of  Roman  historical  writing.  In  the  Brutus,  written  in 
46,  in  which  he  appears  with  the  author  and  Brutus,  he  crit- 
icizes Roman  oratory  both  ancient  and  contemporary  and  is 
referred  to  as  an  authority  on  chronology.  While  he  is  asso- 
ciated with  Cicero  and  Varro  in  the  second  draft  of  the  Aca- 
demica,  written  in  45,  he  has  practically  no  share  in  the  di- 
alogue in  the  extant  part  of  this  work.®®  He  forms  one  of  the 
group  of  fivt  young  students  in  the  fifth  book  oi  De  Finibus, 
written  in  45,  but  again  he  has  no  considerable  share  in  the 
dialogue.  Cicero  dedicated  to  him  De  Senectute  and  De  Ami- 
citia,  written  in  44.  Varro  dedicated  to  him  his  four  books  De 
Vita  Populi  Romani^^  and  his  book  De  Numeris,^^^  and  made 

•5  See  n.  243. 

»«  Nep.  Att.  20,  1-3. 

87  VIII.  II,  7;  12,  6. 

88X111.  14,  1;  ig,  3;  22,  I ;  Ad  Fam.  IX.  8,  i.  Hirzel,  Der  Dialog, 
I.  522,  conjectures  that  Atticus  may  have  given  in  Acad.  Post,  the  expo- 
sitions of  Epicureanism  suggested  in  Acad.  Pr.  19,  79,  80,  82,  loi,  106. 

88Charisius,  Gram.  Lat.  I.  126  (Keil). 

100  Censorinus,  De  Die  Natali,  2. 


) 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


him  an  interlocutor  in  the  second  book  De  Re  Rustka,  where 
he  appears  among  a  group  of  Epirot  stock  farmers  as  an  au- 
thority on  sheep  rearing  and  herd  dogs.  Tyrannio  dedicated 
to  him  his  book  On  Accents  in  46.^**^  Nepos,  within  a  few 
years  of  Atticus'  death,  dedicated  to  him  his  De  Illustribus 
Viris,  departing  from  precedent  in  including  a  biography  of 
Atticus  in  the  book. 

Atticus  had  some  influence  in  deciding  the  dedications  and 
interlocutors  of  Cicero's  works.  As  early  as  54  he  urged  that 
Varro  be  introduced  in  a  dialogue***^  and  renewed  the  recom- 
mendation nine  years  later  with  such  effect  that  Cicero  worked 
over  the  Academka,  which  was  already  in  course  of  publica- 
tion, to  make  Varro  a  principal  speaker  and  to  dedicate  the 
work  to  him.*'»«  He  suggested  Cotta  for  the  expression  of 
sceptical  thought,  but  Cicero  did  not  act  on  this  suggestion. ^°* 
It  was  at  Atticus*  request  that  De  Finibus  was  dedicated  to 
Brutus,^**^  and  doubtless  the  admiration  of  Atticus  for  Brutus 
accounts  in  part  for  the  great  number  of  Cicero's  works  dedi- 
cated to  the  young  Stoic  during  the  years  46  to  44.^*** 

The  group  to  which  Atticus  belonged  represented  all  shades 
of  philosophical  opinion.  Torquatus  and  SaJfeius,  among  his 
friends,  were  exponents  of  Epicureanism.  The  nature  of 
Atticus'  attachment  to  Epicureanism  is  matter  of  debate.  In 
writing  to  Memmius,  Cicero  disclaimed  for  Atticus  any  strict 
adherence  to  the  school,  claiming  that  his  friend's  studies  had 
been  too  liberal  to  permit  such  an  alignment,  and  representing 
his  attachment  as  personal,  a  result  of  his  affection  for  Patro 
and  his  devotion  to  the  memory  of  Phaedrus.^**^  In  the  di- 
alogues, and  the  letters,  he  is  always  quizzical  about  Atticus* 
Epicureanism,  sometimes  recognizing  it  as  a  sort  of  tag,^**' 

101 XII.  6.  2. 

102 IV.  16,  2. 

10s  XII.  44,  4 ;  XIII.  12,  3 ;  13.  I ;  14.  I ;  16.  i ;  19.  3  and  5. 

10*  XIII.  19.  3. 

105  XIII.  12,  3. 

106  Brutus,  Orator,  Paradoxa  Stokorum,  De  Finibus,  Tusculanae  Dis- 
putationes,  De  Natura  Deorutn. 

lOT  Ad.  Fam.  XIII.  i,  5. 
"8IV.6,  i;XIV.20,5;XV.4.  2. 


' 


vU 


r 


n 


ATTICUS   AS    MAN   OF  LETTERS. 


35 


sometimes  referring  to  it  as  a  discipleship  to  Phaedrus  ;^***  he 
takes  pleasure  in  making  Atticus,  as  interlocutor,  subscribe  to 
non-Epicurean  doctrines,  such  as  the  immanence  of  the  gods,*^** 
or  take  issue  with  his  school,  as  in  regard  to  Plato.^^^  He  in- 
dulges in  a  skit  on  the  scientific  writing  of  the  Epicureans,* ^- 
but  he  really  joins  battle  with  them  on  the  doctrine  of  self- 
interest,  which  he  makes  the  cardinal  point  of  all  their  teach- 
ing."* From  the  absence  of  all  real  controversy  between  the 
friends  on  this  point,*^*  as  well  as  from  the  tributes  that  Cicero 
pays  to  Atticus'  moral  enthusiasm,"^  it  is  clear  that  he  did  not 
classify  Atticus  with  the  confessed  hedonists  that  he  counted 
as  representative  of  the  school. 

Yet  Atticus  himself  was  doubtless  quite  serious  in  his  pro- 
fession of  Epicureanism.  The  scientific  interpretation  of  the 
universe,  doing  away  with  the  polytheistic  idea  of  divine  "  in- 
terruption and  interference  "  probably  appealed  to  his  practical 
and  rationalistic  mind.  Unquestionably  the  teaching  of  Epi- 
curus concerning  personal  life,  with  "  its  strict  checks  on  ambi- 
tion, its  stern  repression  of  sensual  desire,  its  insistence  on  the 
supreme  duty  of  preserving  tranquillity  of  soul,"  had  com- 
manded Atticus'  allegiance  in  his  youth  and  thereafter  gov- 
erned the  whole  course  of  his  life.  Cicero  shows  that  Atticus* 
consistent  aloofness  from  the  struggles  imposed  by  ambition 
resulted  from  the  adoption  of  a  principle :  "  I  have  never  felt 
that  there  was  a  difference  between  you  and  me  except  in  our 
chosen  course  of  life,  in  that  I  am  led  by  ambition — if  you  wish 

109/?^  Leg.  I.  53;  De  Fin.  V.  3;  cf.  Atticus'  own  expression,  si  a 
Phaedro  nostra  esses,  XVI.  7,  4. 

110  De  Leg.  I.  21,  where  Atticus*  assent  is  qualified  by  a  jesting  pro- 
test; in  De  Leg.  II.  32-33,  the  assent  is  given  probably  only  to  the  latter 
and  more  sceptical  part  of  the  discussion  on  the  validity  of  divination. 

1"  De  Leg.  III.  i ;  Brut.  292. 

"2 II.  3»  2. 

11*  VII.  2,  4,  and  the  dialogues  passim. 

"♦  Cf.  XIII.  38.  I. 

115  I.  17^  5.  I  recognize  and  appreciate  the  nobility,  the  generosity  of 
your  nature.  ...  In  integrity,  in  devotion  to  duty,  I  count  neither 
myself  nor  anyone  else  superior  to  you.  Cf.  XIII.  20,  4,  Atticus*  de- 
fence of  a  good  conscience  as  against  reputation. 


36 


TITUS   POMPONIUS   ATTICUS. 


lii 


to  name  it  so— to  the  pursuit  of  a  political  career,  and  you  by  a 
different  but  not  less  elevated  theory  of  life  to  an  honorable 
abstinence  from  politics."*^* 

Atticus'  Epicureanism  was  less  a  matter  of  dialectic  than  a 
rule  of  practice.  So  far  as  the  controversy  of  the  schools  was 
concerned,  he  probably  had,  as  Cicero  represents,  a  tolerant 
spirit  and  an  open  mind. 

Literary  Works. 

Inscnptwns.—Attkus'  first  literary  production  of  which  wc 
have  any  knowledge  is  a  series  of  epigrammatic  verses  on 
Cicero  placed  in  the  Amaltheum  in  6i  or  6o;^>^  there  may  have 
been  also  verses  on  other  distinguished  men.  These  verses 
may  be  identical  with  the  metrical  eulogies  which  Nepos  speaks 
of  as  composed  by  Atticus  and  placed  under  the  portraits  of 
the  subjects,  setting  forth  the  achievements  and  magistracies 
of  these  in  not  more  than  four  or  five  verses  each.^***  To  this 
identification  the  objection  is  made  that  Cicero's  mention  of 
Thyillus  and  Archias  in  connection  with  Atticus'  verses  is  evi- 
dence that  the  latter  were  written  in  Greek,  while  the  presump- 
tion is  that  the  metrical  eulogies  were  in  Latin. ^^» 

The  Imagines.— Atticus  published  a  volume  of  portraits 
which  may  with  more  probability  be  identified  with  the  work 
mentioned  by  Nepos,  the  more  so  as  Varro's  volume,  spoken 
of  by  Pliny  in  connection  with  that  of  Atticus,  was  a  combina- 
tion of  portraits  and  biography.^^a 

The  Memoir.— During  his  stay  in  Epirus  in  the  winter  of 
61-60,  Atticus  composed  a  Greek  memoir  on  Cicero's  consulate, 
which  he  despatched  to  Cicero  at  the  moment  when  Cicero  was 

"«I.  17.  5.  For  the  Epicurean  attitude  toward  the  life  of  ambition, 
cf.  Lucretius  Z)^  Rer  Nat.  II.  1-61 ;  cf.  Nep.  Att.  6,  i,  which  I  take  to 
be  an  echo  of  Atticus  own  conversation. 

»"  I.  16,  15. 

"!  ?l^P-  ^''-  '^'  5 :  so  Drumann,  Gesch.  Roms  V.  87. 
"»  Moore,  Class.  Phil.  I.  1906,  121  ff. 

"0  Pliny,  jv.  H  XXXV.  II ;  for  theory  that  Atticus  merely  published 
the  Imagines  of  Varro,  see  Usener,  Unser  Platontevt  p  201 


ATTICUS   AS    MAN   OF  LETTERS. 


37 


V 


sending  a  similar  work  to  him.  The  only  extant  comment  on 
it  is  Cicero's  acknowledgment:  "Your  style  seems  to  me  to 
lack  smoothness  and  elegance,  yet  it  has,  after  all,  the  merit  of 
simplicity."^2i  ^\\^y  cites  Atticus  as  one  of  the  authorities 
that  he  used  for  books  VII.  and  XXXIII.  of  the  Natural  His- 
tory, and  it  seems  likely  that  the  succinct  and  significant  ac- 
count of  Cicero's  consulship  in  VII.  116-117  and  the  emphasis 
on  Cicero's  membership  in  the  equestrian  class  and  his  services 
to  the  class  during  his  consulate  in  XXXIII.  34,  were  drawn 
either  from  the  memoir  or  from  a  brief  summary  thereof  ap- 
pearing in  the  Annals  of  Atticus. 

Genealogies. — According  to  Nepos,  Atticus  made  family 
trees  for  several  Romans  of  distinguished  stock,  indicating  not 
only  the  names  of  ancestors  but  also  the  magistracies  held  by 
these,  with  dates.^-^ 

The  family  tree  of  the  Marcelli  was  made  at  the  request  of  a 
Claudius  Marcellus  ;"^  this  was  doubtless  the  Gains  Marcellus 
who  was  consul  in  50,  the  brother-in-law  of  Augustus.^^*  At- 
ticus' work  may  have  been  used  by  Augustus  in  his  ftmeral 
speech  for  the  son  of  this  Marcellus,  which  began  with  praise 
of  the  race.^^^ 

The  genealogies  of  the  Fabii  and  Aemilii  were  made  at  the 
request  of  Cornelius  Scipio  and  Fabius  Maximus.^^*  These 
probably  formed,  as  Nepos'  statement  implies,  one  elaborate 
work,  including  the  Fabii,  Aemilii,  Scipios  and  Metelli,  for 
Fabius  Maximus  represented  the  Fabii,  the  Cornelii  and  the 
Aemilii,  and  Cornelius  Scipio,  commonly  known  as  Metellus 
Scipio,  was  the  last  scion  of  the  Cornelian  Scipios  and  had 

121 II.  I,  I ;  Nepos  mentions  this  memoir,  Att.  18,  6. 

122  ^f/.  18,3. 

"3  Ibid.  18,  4. 

^2*  So  Nipperdey,  Nepos,  ad  loc.,  arguing  that  Nepos  failed  to  distin- 
guish this  Marcellus  from  the  other  consular  Marcelli  because  at  the 
time  when  the  genealogy  was  made  he  was  the  only  survivor;  this 
theory  dates  the  composition  between  45  and  40;  see  Schanz,  I.  2,  123. 

^25  So  Miinzer,  who  compares  also  Plut.  Marcellus  30,  Hor.  Carm.  I. 
12,  45,  Prop.  III.  18,  33,  Aeneid  VI.  855  ff. 

i2«  Nep.  Att.  18,  4. 


(I 

\ 


\ 


'%.M 


VO 


TITUS  POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


been  adopted  by  the  Metelli."'  Cicero  may  have  drawn  upon 
this  genealogy  in  Brutus  212;  if  he  used  it  also  in  De  Domo 
123,  delivered  in  57,  the  passage  may  be  taken  also  as  evidence 
that  Atticus  traced  maternal  as  well  as  paternal  ancestors.*^" 

The  genealogy  of  the  Junian  family  was  made  at  the  request 
of  Marcus  Brutus;*^*  it  was  doubtless  the  <^iXoT€xvi;fio  that 
Cicero  speaks  of  seeing  in  the  "  Parthenon,"  in  which  Ahala 
and  the  elder  Brutus  appeared  in  the  ancestral  line.*^*^ 

It  has  been  charged  that  these  genealogies  padded  or  falsi- 
fied the  meager  ancient  records  for  the  sake  of  flattering  the 
subjects  with  a  long  tradition  of  illustrious  ancestry,  and  made 
in  some  instances  an  unwarranted  connection  between  the  con- 
temporary scion  of  a  plebeian  family  and  ancient  patrician 
bearers  of  the  same  name.^'**    This  charge,  which  involves  all 

**^  Miinzer,  as  cited  below,  93-100,  where  he  also  supports  the  as- 
sumption that  after  the  elections  of  58,  Metellus  and  Fabius  employed 
Atticus  to  write  up  their  ancestors,  whom  they  wished  to  glorify  during 
their  curule  aedileship  in  57;  in  this  case,  however,  it  is  strange  that 
Metellus  in  his  consulate  in  52  should  have  made  the  mistake  of  ascrib- 
ing a  censorship  to  his  greatgrandfather  (VI.  1,  17). 

Bibliographical  Note.— On  the  literary  work  of  Atticus  and  the  ques- 
tions of  chronology  and  genealogy  arising  from  it,  see  Moramsen, 
Romische  Chronologic.  2nd,  145-148,  and  ch.  VIII.;  Matzat,  Romische 
Chronologic,  1883,  147-150;  Seeck,  Kalendartafel  der  Pontifices,  1885, 
83-99;  Cichorius,  Leipzigcr  Studien,  1887,  De  Fastis  Consularibus  Anii- 
qmisMfms,  249-259 ;  Soltau,  Romische  Chronologic,  1889, 424-429 ;  Unger, 
Der  Glaubwurdigkeit  der  Capitolinischen  Consultafeln,  Jahrbuch,  1891 ; 
Wachsmuth,  Einleitung  in  das  Studium  der  Altcrthums  Geschichie,  i&)5, 
142-145,  300-391.  630-635;  Miinzer,  Hermes,  1905,  50-100,  Atticus  als 
GescMchtschreiber:  Peter,  Historicorum  Romanorum  Reliquiae,  1906, 
11. 20-29 ;  Wahrheit  und  Kunst,  191 1 :  Lcuze,  Die  Romische  Jahrzdhlung, 
1009;  Frick,5.  F.  ^''.,1910-1911,  Varroniana;  Kornemann,  Klio,  11,  Die 
Altesie  Form  der  Pontificalannalen ;  Holzapfel,  Klio,  1912,  Zu  Romische 
Chronologic;  Schanz,  Litteraturgeschichie,  under  Atticus ;  Schon,  Pauly- 
Wissmm,  Fasti,  and  articles  listed  in  the  notes. 

*««  So  Miinzer,  loc.  cit. 

«•  Nep.  Alt.  18.  4. 

130  XIII.  40,  I ;  the  Junian  tree,  if  referred  to  here,  was  made  before 
the  summer  of  45-  Munzer  places  it  late,  saving  that  Atticus  came  into 
close  relation  with  Brutus  only  after  the  civil  war,  but  VI.  i,  3,  shows 
that  Atticus'  enthusiasm  for  Brutus  antedated  Cicero's  departure  for 
his  province  in  51 :  cf.  Ad  Fam,  III.  4,  2.  Drumann  is  probably  right 
in  stipposmg  that  Atticus'  friendship  with  Brutus  dates  from  the  latter's 
marriage  mfo  the  family  of  Clodius  in  54.  The  monograph  may  be 
dated  between  54  and  45. 

"» So  Seeck,  Matzat,  Cichorius,  Wachsmuth,  Schon. 


ATTICUS  AS   MAN   OF  LETTERS. 


39 


of  Atticus'  genealogical  work,  including  that  in  the  Annals,  is 
especially  urged  against  the  Junian  genealogy."*  In  this  very 
case,  however,  it  is  demonstrable  that  the  tradition  connecting 
the  later  Bruti  with  the  consul  of  509  dated  back  several  gene- 
rations ;  it  was  recognized  in  the  time  of  Decimus  Brutus,  con- 
sul in  138,  in  whose  honor  Accius  wrote  his  tragedy  Brutus  ;"• 
it  was  publicly  cited  as  a  reproach  against  the  dissolute  son  of 
Decimus  Brutus  by  the  orator  Crassus;"*  by  the  time  of 
Atticus  it  had  a  prescriptive  right  which  no  historian  of  that 
day  would  have  challenged  in  a  genealogical  work. 

While  Atticus  can  not  be  credited  with  originating  the  con- 
nection between  his  friend  and  the  enemy  of  kings,  it  is  quite 
possible  that  he  influenced  the  career  of  Brutus  and  the  course 
of  history  by  bringing  the  connection  into  new  prominence 
in  the  public  mind. 

As  none  of  the  genealogies  can  be  dated  with  certainty,  it  is 
impossible  to  say  whether  they  preceded  or  followed  the  An- 
nals,^^^  In  either  case,  it  is  certain  that  Atticus  in  his  genea- 
logical work  had  access  to  valuable  unpublished  materials  that 
widened  his  knowledge  of  Roman  history.  Families  such  as 
the  Fabii  and  the  Scipios  had  records  of  the  magistracies  of 
their  ancestors,  copies  of  laws  issued  during  those  magistracies, 
laudations  pronounced  at  funerals,  inscriptions  belonging  to 
their  ancestral  images.  Whether  or  not  the  Annales  Maximi 
had  been  published,  they  must  have  been  comparatively  dif- 
ficult of  access,  and  it  may  have  been  in  connection  with  his 
genealogical  work  that  Atticus  first  used  them.    They  certainly 

*'*E.g.,  Miinzer,  who  thinks  that  XIII.  40,  i,  and  Brutus  62  may  be 
quips  on  the  elaborate  and  not  strictly  historical  production. 

*3«  Scholium  on  Archias  XI.  27  (Stangl,  179).  It  is  evident  that  in 
59  the  elder  Brutus  and  Servilius  Ahala  were  used  as  names  to  conjure 
with  in  revolutionary  circles  (II.  24,  3). 

^^*De  Oratore,  225;  Cichorius'  conjecture  that  Posidonius,  whom 
Plutarch  (Brutus,  i)  cites  as  his  authority  in  tracing  the  connection, 
used  the  genealogy  of  Atticus,  is  therefore  superfluous. 

'35  Schon,  loc.  cit,  conjectures  that  the  genealogies  were  gifts  made 
by  Atticus  in  return  for  the  kindness  of  members  of  old  families  who 
opened  their  archives  to  him  to  further  his  studies  for  the  Annals. 


./ 


40 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


ATTICUS   AS    MAN   OF   LETTERS. 


41 


formed  a  background  for  his  more  extensive  work,  the  An- 

The  Annals. 

Atticus  had  made  so  careful  a  study  of  antiquity,  says  Nepos, 
that  he  set  it  forth  in  its  whole  course  in  the  volume  in  which 
he  listed  the  magistrates  in  their  order,  there  was  no  law,  no 
treaty  of  peace,  no  war,  no  illustrious  act  pertaining  to  Rome 
that  was  not  therein  noted  at  its  proper  time;  an  element  of 
the  work  exacting  still  more  research  was  the  tracing  of  fam- 
ily lines,  showing  the  descendants  of  the  great  men  of  the 
past."' 

Nepos*  statement  is  doubtless  exaggerated  as  to  the  content 
of  the  Annals,  but  as  to  their  scope  it  is  well  sustained  by  other 
references  to  them  and  by  such  traces  of  them  as  may  be  found. 

Cicero  gives  the  following  characterizations  of  the  Annals: 

The  book  in  which  Atticus  has  included,  briefly  and  ac- 
curately, the  entire  record  of  history."* 

The  book  offered  me  much  that  was  new,  and  gave  me  this 
practical  advantage,  which  I  was  in  search  of,  that  with  the 
epochs  of  the  past  set  in  order,  I  could  see  everything  at  a 
glance."® 

The  orator  should  acquire  knowledge  of  great  events  and  of 
the  traditions  of  the  past  in  chronological  order,  not  only  those 
of  our  own  state  but  those  also  of  imperial  peoples  and  illus- 
trious kings ;  this  labor  Atticus  has  lightened  for  us  by  his  own 
labor,  since  in  investigating  and  recording  chronology  he  has 
presented  the  record  of  seven  hundred  years  without  omitting 
any  illustrious  events.^*" 

136  Seeck,  loc.  cit.,  p.  89,  discusses  as  follows  the  use  of  the  Annales 
Maximi  in  antiquity:  Varro  and  writers  who  compiled  from  him,  Cen- 
sorinus,  Macrobius,  Solinus,  do  not  mention  the  Annales  Maximi. 
Cicero  and  Verrius  Flaccus  are  the  only  writers  to  show  a  first-hand 
knowledge  of  them.  Quintilian's  reference  may  be  traced  to  Cicero, 
those  of  Festus,  the  Vergilian  commentators  and  their  derivatives  to 
Flaccus.    Both  these  streams  may  be  traced  back  to  Atticus. 

"T  Att.  18.  1-2. 

^^^Brut.  14. 

i3»Bri#f.  15. 

^*^  Orator,  120. 


Till 


I 


These  references  add  to  the  account  of  Nepos  the  facts  that 
Atticus  limited  his  work  to  the  period  of  Roman  history  and 
yet  recorded  important  events  in  the  history  of  other  peoples.^" 
The  first  must  be  qualified  by  the  testimony  of  a  scholiast  to 
the  effect  that  Atticus  agreed  with  Varro  in  saying  that  Aeneas 
carried  his  father  from  burning  Troy,  but  differed  about  the 
Penates,  which  he  said  came  to  Italy  from  Samothrace  ;^*^  the 
Annals  must  then  have  contained,  by  way  of  introduction,  a 
reference  to  the  origin  of  the  Roman  race. 

By  direct  testimony,  we  know  that  the  Annals  contained  the 
following  events,  with  their  dates:  the  founding  of  Rome,^" 
the  death — or  some  event  late  in  the  life — of  Coriolanus,^** 
the  death  of  Hannibal,"^  the  embassy  of  the  philosophers  from 
Athens  in  155;^**^  and  the  following  facts,  doubtless  in  connec- 
tion with  dates :  Aeneas  saved  his  father  from  burning  Troy ; 
the  Penates  were  brought  into  Italy  from  Samothrace  ;^*^  two 
tribunes  were  chosen  at  the  time  of  the  first  secession  of  the 
plebs  ;^*^  the  son  of  king  Antiochus,  when  a  hostage  in  Rome, 
had  a  house  built  for  him  at  the  public  expense.^*®  In  addi- 
tion, we  have  the  testimony  of  Pliny  that  Atticus  was  one  of 
the  sources  that  he  drew  upon  for  the  seventh  and  thirty-third 
books  of  the  Natural  History}^^    For  less  direct  but  yet  con- 

1*1  A  comparison  of  De  Rep.  II.  28,  De  Or.  II.  154,  and  Brut.  40, 
leads  Miinzer  to  the  conclusion  that  the  facts  on  Homer  and  Lycurgus 
were  drawn  in  these  three  instances  from  the  same  source,  Timaeus; 
that  is,  that  Cicero  could  not  use  the  Annals  for  the  period  antedating 
753 ;  so  Wachsmuth,  loc.  cit.,  I.  ch.  IV.  From  the  fact  that  the  Chro- 
nographer  of  354  says  of  the  year  49,  "  Up  to  this  point  there  were 
dictators,"  Cichorius  conjectures  that  the  Annals,  which  he  takes  to 
be  the  source  of  the  Chronograph,  ended  with  49 ;  it  seems  probable 
enough  that  they  ended  with  the  Civil  War. 

^*^Schol.  Veron.  ad  Aen.  II.  717;  the  scholiast  does  not  refer  ex- 
plicitly to  the  Annals. 

1*3  Brut.  72 ;  Solinus  I.  27. 

^**Brut.  41-42. 

1*5  Nep.  Hann.  13,  i. 

"«  XII.  23,  2. 

**^  See  note  3. 

1*8  Asconius,  On  Pro  Comelio,  p.  60,  Stangl. 

i*»  Asconius,  On  In  Pisonem,  p.  18,  Stangl. 

"•*  See  p.  37. 


42 


TITUS  POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


vincing  testimony,  we  have  the  evidence  of  those  works  of 
Cicero  that  were  written  after  the  appearance  of  the  Annals. 

It  is  a  reasonable  inference  that  Atticus*  work  on  the  Annals 
followed  the  publication  of  De  Re  Publica  in  51.  As  inter- 
locutor in  the  Brutus,  Atticus  says  that  the  De  Re  Publica  had 
aroused  and  stimulated  him  to  a  comprehensive  presentation 
of  the  facts  of  Roman  history."*  He  read  De  Re  Publica  in 
Rome  in  the  summer  or  fall  of  51  ;"*  he  went  to  Greece  at  the 
end  of  the  year  and  was  absent  from  Italy  until  September  of 
50;  it  is  likely  that  he  did  not  begin  work  on  the  Annals  until 
after  his  return,  as  he  could  not  command  materials  for  re- 
search outside  of  Rome.  The  book  must  have  been  finished 
before  the  end  of  47,  as  Cicero  seems  to  have  received  it  at 
about  the  same  time  as  a  letter  from  Brutus^ ''^  which  reached 
him  in  mid-September  of  that  year.*^*  Probably  Atticus'  work 
was  a  part  of  that  literary  movement  which  after  48  formed  a 
refuge  for  the  Pompeians,  excluded  as  they  were  from  political 
life."*  This  approximate  dating  at  least  shows  in  what  works 
of  Cicero's  traces  of  the  Annals  may  be  looked  for.*^' 

Before  the  appearance  of  the  Annals  Cicero  had  written  De 
Orator e,  De  Re  Publica  and  De  Finibus.  Oi  De  Re  Publica 
less  than  half  is  extant.  De  Oratore  is  rhetorical,  De  Finibus 
philosophical  in  its  interest,  so  that  historical  material  is  not  to 
be  demanded  in  either.  Yet  when  a  comparison  is  made  with 
the  later  works  of  the  same  type,  it  becomes  apparent  that  in 
his  later  writing  Cicero  developed  a  pleasure  in  historical  di- 
gression not  manifest  in  the  earlier  works ;  these  show  too  an 

"1  Brut.  19. 

"2V.  12,  2;  VI.  1.8. 

"»Brii/.  II. 

*'*  The  date  is  a  well-founded  inference  of  Schmidt's,  Briefwechsel, 
32  f .  and  230. 

^^^  Compare  Cicero's  exhortation  to  Varro  in  46  {Ad  Fam.  IX.  2,  5). 
To  this  period  probably  belong  Brutus*  epitomes  of  Fannius  and  Caelius. 
Unger,  loc.  cit,  comments  on  Cicero's  citation  of  Cotta,  Libo  and  Casca 
(XIII.  44,  3),  three  Pompeians  who  had  laid  down  the  sword  for 
the  pen. 

»5«  For  this  study  of  material  from  the  Annals  in  the  dialogues,  I  am 
greatly  indebted  to  the  article  of  Miinzer's  cited  above. 


ATTICUS   AS   MAN   OF   LETTERS. 


i 


"  I, 


43 


absence  of  the  dates  and  synchronisms  that  appear  in  the  later 
works.  The  writer  must  have  had  at  hand,  in  the  later  period, 
a  manual  which  made  it  easy  to  place  people  and  events  chrono- 
logically and  to  reckon  the  interval  between  events.  In  a  few 
instances,"^  the  dates  or  facts  can  be  traced  directly  to  the 
Annals;  in  others  we  can  only  say  that  nothing  else  seems  so 
probable  a  cause  for  the  change  in  Cicero's  manner  as  the  pos- 
session of  the  Annals.^^^ 

In  De  Re  Publica,  Cicero  accepts  the  Polybian  date  for  the 
founding  of  Rome,  750,  and  acknowledges  Polybius  as  his  au- 
thority in  chronology  ;^'®  in  the  Brutus  he  uses  753  as  the  date 
of  founding,  expressly  referring  to  Atticus  as  his  authority  in 
chronology.^®** 

In  De  Re  Publica,^^^  De  Oratore^^^  and  the  Tusculan  Dispu- 
tations,^^^  Cicero  speaks  of  the  embassy  of  Athenian  philos- 
ophers without  indicating  the  date;  in  the  Academica,^^*  in 
relating  an  anecdote  from  Clitomachus,  he  dates  the  embassy 
by  the  consuls  of  the  year  and  adds  the  praetorship,  the  subse- 
quent consulship  and  the  historical  monograph  of  Albinus. 
The  date  of  the  embassy  he  learned  from  the  Annals,^^^  and  it 
is  likely  that  the  facts  about  Albinus  were  found  there  also."* 

^57  See  p.  41. 

^s^For  bibliography  of  discussion  on  individual  works  see  Schanz 
and  Miinzer.  The  latter,  calling  attention  to  the  great  difference  in 
historical  material  between  De  Oratore  and  De  Senectute,  both  with 
speakers  of  an  earlier  generation,  conjectures  that  De  Senectute  was 
dedicated  to  Atticus  as  the  return  for  the  Annals  promised  in  Brutus 
15,  and  that  its  wealth  of  allusion  is  a  tribute  to  the  value  of  Atticus* 
work. 

"»Z)^  Rep.  II.  18;  cf.  27,  and  Dion.  Hal.  I.  74,  3. 

loo^rM^  72;  cf.  Solinus,  I.  27,  Romam  placet  conditam.  .  .  .  Pom- 
Ponio  Attico  et  Marco  Tullio  Olympiadis  sextae  anno  tertio. 

"1  III.  9. 

i«2  II.  154  f. 

i«3  IV.  5. 

"*  II.  137. 

i6»  XII.  23,  2. 

"«  On  learning  from  Atticus  that  Aulus  Postumus  Albinus  was  one 
of  Mummius  legates,  Cicero  promptly  placed  him  as  colleague  in  the 
consulship  of  Lucius  LucuIIus  (XIII.  32,  3),  doubtless  from  the  Annals, 
which  he  then  had  at  hand.  He  must  also  have  known  then  that 
Albinus   was  the   writer  of  a   Greek  monograph   on   Roman   history 


1^ 


44 


TITUS   POMPONIUS   ATTICUS. 


In  De  Re  Pnblica,^^^  Cicero  refers  to  Plato's  visit  to  Archy- 
tas  of  Tarentum ;  in  De  Senectute,^^^  he  dates  the  visit  by  the 
consuls  of  the  year  and  brings  in  a  reference  to  the  battle  of 
the  Caudine  Forks,  dating  that  also  by  consuls. 

In  the  orations  against  Verres,  Cicero  refers  to  the  Cal- 
purnian  law  de  repetundis  without  mentioning  the  date;^"*  in 
the  Brutus,^'''*  the  law  is  dated  by  consuls ;  in  De  Officiis,^^^  it 
is  dated  as  i  lo  years  after  the  speech  of  Pontius  that  is  so  care- 
fully dated  in  De  Senectiite}'- 

From  Cicero's  easy  manner  of  reckoning  from  one  event  to 
another,  it  may  be  concluded  that  the  Annals  contained  dates 
at  frequent  intervals,  such  as  the  ten  year  intervals  of  the  Con- 
sular Fasti."* 

A  comparison  of  the  sketch  of  Greek  oratory  in  De  Ora- 
tore^^*  with  that  in  the  Brutiis^''^  shows  in  the  latter  the  addi- 
tion of  Solon,  Peisistratus,  Kleisthenes,  Themistocles  and 
Kleon,  a  better  arrangement  of  the  later  orators  and  less  cer- 
tainty about  the  survival  of  Pericles'  speeches.  These  new 
points  are  probably  drawn  from  synchronistic  notes  in  the 
Annals. 

If  these  differences  between  the  earlier  and  the  later  works 
are  due  to  the  Annals,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  other  his- 
torical allusions  with  a  chronological  element  found  in  the  later 
books  are  drawn  from  the  same  source.    An  analysis  of  the 

{Brut  8i;  Acad.  II.  137).  as  he  rejoiced  in  finding  a  legate  so  well 
adapted  to  a  scholarly  discussion  of  politics  (XIII.  32,  3;  30,  2) ;  his 
reiteration  of  the  point  indicates  that  it  was  a  bit  of  special  knowledge ; 
it  probably  came  from  the  Annals,  as  the  writing  of  a  Greek  memoir 
by  a  Roman  would  be  of  special  interest  to  Atticus.  Cicero  may  have 
drawn  the  notice  of  Albinus'  praetorship  from  Libo. 
i«7  I.  16. 

W839,  41. 

i«9III.  195;  IV.  56. 

170  I.  106. 

1"  II.  75- 

172  III.  39,  41,  by  the  speech  of  Archytas. 

173  Miinzer,  loc.  cit.,  citing  De  Sen.  14,  and  De  Am.  96. 
"MI.  93-95. 

175  II.  26-37. 


f 


A 


r^£ 


ATTICUS  AS   MAN   OF  LETTERS. 


45 


material  to  be  found  in  passages  to  be  referred  with  more  or 

less  certainty  to  the  Annals  is  submitted:"® 

Important  events,  Brut.  60. 

Campaigns,  De  Sen.  10. 

Battles,  De  Sen.  10. 

Repeated  consulships,  De  Sen.  10,  14,  19. 

Censorships,"^  De  Sen.  42 ;  Brut.  60. 

Laws,  De  Sen.  10  and  14;  De  Am.  96. 

Names  of  advocates  or  opposers  of  laws,  De  Sen.  14 ;  De  Off. 

III.  109. 
Speeches,  De  Sett.  14;  De  Off.  III.  109. 
Biographical  notes. 

Minor  magistracies.^^* 

Cognomina."® 

Filiation.^**« 
Literary  notices.^®^ 

Birth  of  Ennius,  Brut.  y2. 

Birth  of  Naevius  and  Plautus,  Brut.  60. 

176  Compiled  from  Miinzer's  article.  Miinzer  assumes  that  where 
Cicero  digresses  from  pure  pleasure  in  historical  names  and  dates, 
where  he  easily  reckons  time  between  two  events,  where  he  shows  exact 
m formation  on  the  genealogies  or  magistracies  of  distinguished  men, 
use  of  the  Annals  may  be  predicated.  If  out  of  a  group  of  passages 
that  show  signs  of  interdependence,  one  contains  a  point  that  may 
surely  be  traced  to  the  Annals,  he  assumes  that  the  material  of  the 
others  may  be  assigned  to  the  same  sources;  he  does  not  claim  the 
validity  of  proof  for  the  evidence  thus  offered. 

177  Two  at  least  are  given,  perhaps  all.  They  would  be  in  place  be- 
cause of  their  chronological  significance. 

178  Probably  given  only  incidentally  and  by  reason  of  special  signifi- 
cance or  biographical  interest.  There  is  no  complete  list  of  praetors 
or  tribunes,  for  Cicero  was  often  at  a  loss  about  these  after  he  began 
using  the  Annals  (XII.  5b;  XVI.  13b,  2;  XIII.  30,  2;  32,  3). 

179  Cf.  the  citation  of  Nepos,  Hann.  13,  i. 

180  If  Brut.  78  was  drawn  from  Varro,  there  are  no  convincing  in- 
stances. Brutus  77  and  79,  however,  give' genealogical  notes  showing 
special  knowledge  and  probably  drawn  from  filiation  in  the  Annals. 

181  The  dating  of  Livius'  first  play  is  the  result  of  a  critical  study 
and  correction  of  the  testimony  of  Accius  on  the  subject;  as  the  same 
matter  is  presented  by  Gellius  (Noct.  Att.  XVII.  21,  42  f.)  and  ascribed 
by  him  to  Varro,  the  critical  study  was  probably  made  by  Varro  and 
used  by  Atticus.  The  other  literary  notices  showing  the  use  of  dida- 
scalta  were  perhaps  also  the  result  of  Varro's  investigations. 


46 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


li 


Date  of  Livius  Andronicus*  first  play,  Brut.  72 ;  De  Sen.  50. 

Production,  of  the  Thyesies  and  death  of  Ennius,  Brut.  78. 
Synchronisms,*®'*  De  Sen.  39  ff. ;  Brut.  39-49;  De  Am.  42. 

The  most  significant  well  attested  fact  about  the  Annals  is 
that  they  departed  from  the  chronology  previously  accepted, 
and  published,  perhaps  for  the  first  time,  the  chronology  of  the 
so-called  Varronian  Era,  the  distinguishing  feature  of  which 
was  the  adoption  of  753,  instead  of  the  Polybian  750,  as  the 
date  of  the  founding  of  Rome.^*** 

Priority  in  the  fixing  of  this  date  has  been  variously  ascribed 
to  Varro  and  Atticus.  So  far  as  extant  reference  shows  it  first 
appeared  in  the  Annals  of  Atticus.  However,  Varro  was  work- 
ing on  chronology  at  this  period,^**  and  the  Julian  calendar  was 
being  prepared.****  Solinus  in  his  Collectanea  Rertim  Memora- 
biiium,^^^  cites  Atticus  and  Cicero  as  authorities  for  the  date 
753 ;  Censorius,  in  De  Die  Natali,  cites  Varro's  work  De  Nu- 
meris,  and  again  refers  to  Varro's  system.^" 

It  is  not  only  in  the  date  for  the  founding  of  the  city  that 
Atticus  and  Varro  agree;  such  scant  references  as  are  extant 
seem  to  indicate  like  reckonings  for  the  duration  of  the  king- 
ship and  the  dating  of  events.*®*  The  two  must  have  worked, 

1*2  Except  for  Plato's  visit,  these  synchronisms  are  merely  approxi- 
mate and  could  have  been  taken  over  from  Greek  writers  without 
idaptation.    Atticus  was  interested  in  such  synchronisms  (Brut.  42  f.). 

"•Up  to  the  middle  of  the  first  century  B.C.,  the  Polybian  date  was 
in  use;  the  Chronica  of  Nepos,  adapted  from  Apollodorus,  published 
before  54,  reckoned  from  it.  Cicero's  change  to  an  earlier  date  and 
the  substantial  harmony  of  Cicero,  Livy  and  the  Capitoline  Fasti  there- 
ifter,  show  that  some  important  work  must  have  appeared  to  modify 
the  accepted  chronology  (Mommsen,  loc.  cit.,  Matzat,  loc.  cit.). 

"4  Acad.  Post  I.  9. 

"»  Unger,  Matzat  and  Seeck  claim  a  determining  influence  for  the 
investigations  of  Tarutius ;  Leuze  shows  that  all  the  citations  concern- 
ing Tarutius  imply  merely  that  he  calculated  constellations  for  a  given 
year,  the  year  being  probably  supplied  by  someone  else ;  so  also  Momm- 
sen, loc.  cit.  Cicero  refers  to  Tarutius*  calculations  in  51  (De  Rep.  I. 
25,  by  implication),  but  without  being  affected  by  any  conclusions 
thereby  reached,  and  again  in  44,  when  he  had  ascribed  the  new  dating 
to  Atticus  (De  Div.  II.  98). 

"« I.  27. 

i"I.  2;  21,  4-7. 

1*®  Miinzer,  loc.  cit. 


ATTICUS  AS   MAN   OF  LETTERS. 


47 


^  IP'"  .A 


either  independently  or  together,  over  the  discrepancies  of  the 
traditional  chronology,  assembling  the  evidence  afforded  by 
the  existing  annals  and  fasti,  the  tradition  of  the  founding  of 
the  Capitoline  temple,  the  records  drawn  from  the  claves,  and 
the  Greek  synchronisms,  agreeing  finally  upon  a  method  of  re- 
ducing the  material  to  a  system.  The  personal  and  literary 
friendship  between  the  two,  together  with  the  absence  from  the 
letters  of  any  reference  to  controversy,  makes  it  probable  that 
they  did  some  work  in  common.  It  is  likely  that  Varro,  with 
his  wide  antiquarian  range  and  his  less  diversified  occupation, 
took  the  lead,  and  that  Atticus  was  the  first  publisher.^®® 

For  some  years  before  he  began  work  on  the  Annals,  Atticus 
had  felt  that  there  was  an  obligation  upon  Romans  to  con- 
tribute to  the  writing  of  history.  Rome  was  increasingly  con- 
scious of  a  great  destiny,  and  consequently  increasingly  moved 
to  recall  her  own  past;  such  consciousness  of  race  was  prob- 
ably increased  in  Atticus  by  his  years  of  foreign  residence  and 
of  contact  with  a  race  to  a  high  degree  conscious  of  its  own 
history.  Passages  in  the  letters  and  the  dialogues  serve  to 
show  what  conception  of  history  and  of  the  use  of  sources  At- 
ticus brought  to  his  work  as  an  analyst.  As  to  the  standards 
that  he  set  for  investigation,  we  have  mis  meticulous  criticism 
of  Cicero's  work,^^^  his  painstaking  research  in  preparation  for 
the  dialogues.  The  criticism  of  the  early  analysts  in  De  Legibus 
is  rhetorical  rather  than  historical,  perhaps  Ciceronian  rather 
than  Attican.^**^  In  the  Brutus,  however,  Atticus  criticizes 
with  pleasant  irony  that  system  of  fabrication  by  which  a  great 
man's  story  was  given  a  romantic  turn,  or  the  fate  of  an  ancient 

189  Mommsen,  Soltau  and  Matzat  assumed  that  Atticus  fixed  the  date 
and  that  Varro  adopted  his  conclusions  in  the  work  De  Gente  Populi 
Romani,  published  not  earlier  than  43;  Sanders,  A.  J.  P.,  1902,  3oflF., 
called  attention  to  Acad.  Post.  I.  9,  showing  that  Varro  had  worked  on 
chronology  before  that  time;  the  point  has  been  develgped  by  Leuze 
and  Frick.  Leuze  assumes  the  priority  of  Varro.  Frick  argues  uncon- 
vincingly  for  Atticus.  The  conclusion  given  above  is  that  of  Holzapfel, 
Klio,  1912. 

i»o  VI.  I,  8,  etc. 

i»i  I.  5  ff. ;  cf .  p.  26. 


f 


i 


J 


il 


* 


I 

! 


4S 


TITUS  POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


Roman  made  to  match  that  of  an  ancient  Greek.^®^  As  Atticus 
was  Cicero's  authority  in  matters  of  chronology,  it  is  fair  to 
refer  to  his  influence  a  passage  like  Brutus  i6,  in  which  Cicero 
bewails  the  duplicated  consulships  and  fictitious  triumphs  that 
had  crept  into  the  historical  lists.  He  refers  to  Atticus  as  a 
most  scrupulous  authority  on  Roman  history.^^*^  At  the  begin- 
Bing  of  De  Legibus,  in  the  dialogue  on  Marius'  oak  tree,  he 
seems  to  satirize  in  his  friend  a  too  great  literalness,  an  ex- 
cessive devotion  to  fact. 

We  should  infer  from  this  testimony  that  Atticus  worked 
with  the  object  of  handing  down  a  pure  tradition  and  straight- 
ening out  confusiions.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  his  purpose 
to  present  a  systematic  and  complete  record;  if  his  sources 
were  confused  and  contradictory,  he  had  to  make  choices  or 
combinations;  if  they  were  defective,  he  had  either  to  leave 
gaps  or  to  fill  them  in  with  the  conjecture  offering  most  prob- 
ability."** 

While  Atticus  represented  a  protest  against  the  romantic  and 
moralizing  tendencies  that  had  been  operating  for  more  than 
a  generation  to  turn  history  into  fiction,  and  while,  like  Varro, 
he  strove  to  restore  a  pure  and  sound  tradition  by  working 
upon  such  antiquities  as  survived  in  his  day,  he  was  probably 
more  susceptible  than  Varro  to  the  personal  element  in  the  his- 
torical interests  of  his  own  generation ;  among  men  who  had 
lived  through  the  civil  wars,  a  new  significance  was  attached  to 

i92  42ff.  At  illc  ridens,  *  Tuo,  vero/  inquit,  'arbitratu;  quoniam 
quidem  concessum  est  rhetoribus  ementiri  in  historiis,  ut  aliquid  dicere 
possint  argutius;  .  .  .  banc  enim  mortem  rhetorice  et  tragice  ornare 
potuerunt,  ilia  mors  volgaris  nullam  praebebat  materiem  ad  ornandum. 
.  .  .  .*  *  Sit  sane,*  inquam,  '  ut  libet,  de  isto;  et  ego  cautius  posthac 
historiam  attingam  te  audiente,  quern  rerum  Romanarum  auctorem 
laudare  possum  religiosissimum.' 

i9«  Brut,  44. 

»»*Soltau  {W.  K.  F.,  1910,  526-534)  and  Schwarz  (Pauly-Wissowa, 
Dtodorus)  ascribe  the  fabrication  of  the  dictator  years  to  an  older  tra- 
dition; Niese,  to  Varro  and  Atticus;  Leuze  contends  that  the  dictator 
years  did  not  appear  in  chronology  before  the  time  of  Varro  and  At- 
ticus. but  that  these  scholars,  finding  the  records  defective,  merely  left 
gaps  which  were  filled  in  with  the  dictatorships  by  less  learned  or  less 
scrupulous  writers. 


II 


f 


'  i«  • 


I 


III,       ^ 


^ 


\ 


ATTICUS  AS   MAN   OF  LETTERS. 


49 


the  individual  career;  the  class  consciousness  of  the  nobles 
grew  with  the  growth  of  the  powers  that  defied  them,  and  led 
them  to  emphasize  the  claims  of  the  antiquity  and  the  illustrious 
services  of  their  families.  Atticus  responded  to  the  resulting 
demand  for  the  conservation  of  the  personal  and  hereditary 
element  in  Roman  history  by  his  work  on  genealogy,  filiation 
and  magistracies.  In  this  field  he  must  again  have  met  con- 
fusions, contradictions,  and  double  versions.  As  to  his  method 
of  settling  them,  there  is  no  conclusive  evidence.^®^ 

The  last  extant  citation  made  from  the  Annals  by  name  oc- 
curs in  Asconius.  They  had  perhaps  disappeared  by  the  time 
of  Suetonius,  who  refers  to  Atticus  not  as  an  author  but  as  the 
correspondent  of  Cicero.^''**  Evidences  of  the  use  of  the  book 
may  be  traced  with  more  or  less  certainty  for  a  few  genera- 
tions after  its  publication. 

Cichorius  and  Matzat  have  revived  in  this  generation  the 
conjectured**^  that  the  Annals  of  Atticus  were  the  source  of  the 
Capitoline  Fasti,  which  were  carved  upon  the  marble  wall  of 
the  Regia  between  36  and  30  B.C.  Cichorius  cites  the  follow- 
ing features  as  common  to  the  Annals  and  the  Fasti : 
Names  of  dictators,  magistri  equitum  and  censors  included  as 

well  as  names  of  consuls ;  praetors  and  tribunes  omitted. 
Cognomina  given,  sometimes  two  or  three. 
Genealogical  notes. 
Notes  on  rise  of  acquired  cognomina. 
Mention  of  events,  e.  g.,  wars. 
Dates  ab  iirbe  condita  every  ten  years. 
Date  of  founding  of  Rome,  753. 

It  is  clear  that  one  purpose  of  the  Fasti  was  to  establish  a 
chronology ,^®®  and  this  chronology  seems  consonant  with  that 

^85  Cichorius  remarks,  Neque  tamen  malo  dolo  fecisse  putandus  est 
redactor,  sed  bona  fide  ut  utriusque  memoriae  haheret  rationem  gettU' 
nata  cognomina  effecit. 

i9«Z)^  Grammaticis  16;  Tiberius  7;  so  Schanz;  however  Pliny,  who 
cited  Atticus  as  an  authority,  refers  to  him  merely  as  Atticus  ille 
Ciceronis  (H.  N.  XXXV.  11). 

19^  Advanced  earlier  by  Pighe  and  Voss. 

^^^  So  Schon  and  Wachsmuth. 


50 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


of  Atticus.  However,  too  many  of  the  conclusions  about  the 
contents  of  the  Annals  are  conjectural  to  permit  the  founding 
of  a  further  conclusion  upon  them.^*"* 

It  is  suggested  that  the  chronological  and  genealogical  work 
of  Atticus  and  Varro  may  have  been  transmitted  to  Livy 
through  Tubero,  one  of  their  circle.^**** 

The  special  knowledge  of  chronology  and  history  shown  by 
Verrius  Flaccus  may  be  traced  to  Atticus.^®^  Flaccus  is  sup- 
posed to  be  the  author  of  the  Fasti  Triumphorum,'^'  and  is 
known  to  have  published  a  calendar.  It  is  probable  that  the 
library  of  Atticus  was  inherited  by  his  daughter  and  hence  was 
accessible  to  Flaccus,  who  was  the  tutor  of  Caecilia's  grand- 


son. 


203 


Efforts  have  been  made  to  trace  influences  from  Atticus  in 
the  work  of  Velleius  Paterculus.-*^*  Fernice,^**^  following  the 
work  of  Kritz,  listed  a  number  of  genealogical  notices*****  and 
some  bits  of  special  information-'"^  which  may  have  been  drawn 
from  the  genealogies  of  Atticus.  Hirschfeld^***  would  like  to 
trace  to  Atticus  a  passage  in  which  Velleius  defends  the  con- 

i'*^  Matzat  remarks  that  of  the  list  of  contents  given  for  the  Annals 
by  Nepos,  only  two,  leges  and  paces,  are  wanting  in  the  Capitoline 
Fasti.  Peter  i^Hist.  Rom.  Rel.)  reserves  judgment  on  the  derivation 
of  the  Fasti  from  the  Annals  of  Atticus. 

200  Soltau,  Neue  Jahrb.,  1897,  415-417. 

201  Seeck,  Kalenderiafel,  88  ff. 

202  Seeck,  loc.  cit.  92 ;  Schon,  loc.  cit 

203  The  library  doubtless  passed  through  the  hands  of  Agrippa's  heirs 
into  the  imperial  library,  where  Seneca  had  access  to  the  letters  (Seeck). 

20*  Sauppe,  Schweiserisches  Museum,  1837,  133-181,  does  not  mention 
Atticus  as  a  source  used  by  Velleius,  but  refers  to  Atticus'  genealogical 
work  as  developing  in  history  the  personal  note  that  was  overworked 
by  Velleius. 

205  De  M.  V.  P.  Fide  Historica  Commentatio,  Leipsic,  1862.  Kaiser, 
De  fontibus  V.  P.,  1884,  cited  by  Maurenbrecher,  C.  SallusH  Crispi 
Historiarum  Reliquiae,  1901,  12,  decides  that  Velleius  used  Atticus  for 
the  republican  period  up  to  II.  48.  Maurenbrecher  agrees,  but  thinks 
that  Livy  was  also  used.  For  bibliography,  see  Maurenbrecher  and 
Hirschfeld,  Kleine  Schriften. 

2oeiI.  I,  4;  2,  i;  3,  i;  8,  2;  10,  2.  3;  16,  2;  17,  2;  21,  5;  29,  2;  41,  2; 
59.  2. 

20T  II.  5,  I,  2 ;  8,  I. 

208  Kleine  Schriften,  77^779. 


JK  jjk^ 


ATTICUS  AS    MAN   OF  LETTERS. 


61 


duct  of  the  Romans  in  Athens  at  the  time  when  the  city  was 
besieged  by  Sulla.-^**  It  is  conceivable  that  the  affection  of  At- 
ticus for  his  adopted  city  and  his  desire  to  promote  a  good 
understanding  between  Athens  and  Rome  moved  him  to  insert 
such  a  passage  in  the  Annals. 

The  question  arises  how  a  work  so  convenient  and  so  val- 
uable as  Atticus'  handbook  fell  so  soon  into  oblivion,  and  that 
too  without  having  stimulated  the  production  of  others  of  its 
kind.  Peter  answers  it  by  saying  that  the  rapid  rise  of  Rome 
to  world  dominion  so  widened  the  scope  of  historical  interest 
as  to  withdraw  attention  from  a  book  of  so  narrow  a  range.^^® 
It  may  be  added  that  Roman  history  so  soon  fulfilled  the  hopes 
of  Atticus  by  taking  its  place  as  a  literary  form  that  in  the  midst 
of  stylistic  interests,  imitations  and  rivalries,  a  meager  and  un- 
adorned work  like  the  Annals  might  easily  fail  of  appreciation. 

2o»II.  23.  Schoene,  Die  Elogien  des  Augustusforum  und  der  liber 
de  viris  illustribus,  1895,  cited  by  Schanz  under  Aurelius  Victor,  con- 
jectures that  Augustus  employed  Atticus  for  the  composition  of  the 
elogia  inscribed  under  the  statues  that  he  placed  in  the  Forum,  and  that 
47  chapters  of  De  Viris  Illustribus  may  be  traced  to  this  source.  The 
source  of  this  work,  however,  is  a  matter  of  much  controversy,  and 
Schon  is  not  supported  in  tracing  it  to  Atticus.  See  Schanz,  loc.  cit. 
See  also  Schanz,  Atticus,  for  Hirschf eld's  suggestion  of  traces  of  At- 
ticus in  Florus. 

210  IVahrheit  und  Kunst. 


ATTICUS  IN  POLITICS. 


\ 


Atticus  was  born  to  equestrian  rank  and  never  rose  to  a 
higher  station.  The  corruption  and  violence  of  the  poHtical 
world  of  his  youth  made  him  decide  that  it  was  the  part  of  dig- 
nity and  prudence  to  turn  away  from  that  path  of  advance- 
ment/ The  choice  may  have  been  instinctive,  based  on  a  con- 
sciousness of  his  own  strength  and  weakness,  but  it  was  doubt- 
less reinforced  by  his  study  of  the  teachings  of  Epicurus.^  It 
by  no  means  involved  indifference  to  the  fortunes  of  his  coun- 
try, nor  did  it  preclude  a  lively  interest  in  the  political  career  of 
Cicero. 

He  must  have  listened  daily,  as  Cicero  did  in  88,  to  the 
public  speeches  of  Sulpicius,  whose  fortunes  were  the  more  in- 
teresting to  him  because  of  a  family  connection.^  Because  of 
this  connection,  the  tribune's  fall  caused  him  alarm  as  well  as 
sorrow,  and  probably  was,  as  Nepos  implies,  the  strongest 
factor  in  his  decision  to  leave  Italy.* 

In  Athens,  he  refused  the  citizenship  offered  to  him  but  was 
none  the  less  energetic  in  facing  the  financial  and  administrative 
problems  of  the  city,  making  himself  by  his  services  an  inval- 
uable member  of  the  community.** 

On  his  return  from  the  East  by  way  of  Athens,  Sulla  saw  in 
the  cultivated  and  courteous  young  knight  a  desirable  adherent 
and  pressed  him  to  return  to  Rome.  Atticus,  not  dazzled  by 
the  invitation,  begged  that  he  should  not  be  forced  to  align  him- 
self against  his  friends  of  the  anti-Sullan  party,  pleading  that 

^I.  17,  5;  Nepos,  6;  Boissier  is  wrong  in  pronouncing  this  choice  a 
defection   from   patriotic  duty.    Cicero  uses   the   same   word   for  the 
pohtical  position  of  the  knights  in  general  as  for  that  of  Atticus,  otium 
Pro.  Rab.  Post.  7,  16. 

2  See  p.  35. 

^Brut  306. 

^Ait.  2,  2. 

^  Nep.  Att.  2  and  3. 

52 


. 


t 


ATTICUS   IN    POLITICS. 


53 


he  had  left  Rome  to  avoid  joining  those  very  friends  against 
Sulla.  His  excuses  were  amiably  accepted,  and  he  was  loaded 
with  gifts  on  Sulla's  departure.® 

During  his  long  residence  abroad,  Atticus  kept  up  an  inti- 
,mate  connection  with  men  and  affairs  in  Rome.    He  probably 
returned  regularly  for  the  census,  in  order  to  keep  his  status 
as  a  citizen.^    The  fact  that  after  twenty  years  of  foreign  resi- 
dence he  was  urged  and  expected  to  come  to  Rome  to  assist  his 
friends  in  their  canvasses  for  office  shows  that  he  had  retained 
his  position  as  a  prominent  member  of  the  equestrian  order 
and  that  through  personal  ties  and  business  interests  he  had 
maintained  a  sphere  of  influence.*    Besides  his  visits  to  Rome, 
his  residence  in  Athens  gave  him  opportunities  for  making  or 
renewing  friendships  with  Romans ;  the  knights  with  financial 
interests  in  Asia,  the  provincial  governors  with  their  quaestors, 
prefects,  secretaries,  the  army  officers  quartered  in  the  eastern 
provinces,  must  have  kept  up  a  stream  of  travel  through  the 
Aegean.    Well  adapted  as  Atticus  was  by  temperament,  expe- 
rience and  enthusiasm  to  serve  as  guide  and  host  in  Athens  and 
as  adviser  to  those  embarking  on  financial  ventures  in  the  East, 
he  must  have  been  sought  out  by  many  of  those  who  went 
through  Athens  on  their  journey.* 

65-58. 

"  My  candidacy  for  the  consulship,  which  I  know  is  a  matter 
of  supreme  interest  to  you,"  Cicero  wrote  in  a  letter  of  65.^** 
He  was  justified  in  the  assumption;  it  was  probably  this  in- 
terest that  restored  Atticus  to  Rome  as  a  resident  citizen.  At- 
ticus maintained  this  interest  throughout  Cicero's  life,  acting  as 
counsellor  at  every  point  and  finding  in  his  friend's  activity  an 
expression  for  his  own  political  ideas.     It  is  almost  entirely 

«  Nep.  Att.  4,  I  and  2. 

TCf.  I.  18,  8;  II.  I,  II. 

8  I.  10,  6;  4,  I ;  Nep.  Att.  4,  3-5. 

»  Cf.  I.  I,  2. 

10  I.  I.  I. 


54 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


ATTICUS  IN    POLITICS. 


55 


through  his  exchange  of  ideas  with  Cicero  that  his  Hfe  as  a 
citizen  must  be  studied. 

Cicero  hoped  to  have  in  his  pohtical  career  the  support  of  the 
equites,  Atticus'  class  and  his  own.    He  stood  for  the  consulate 
at  a  time  when  the  equites  were  conscious  of  power  and  had 
heavy  interests  lying  under  the  arbitrament  of  the  government. 
Their  policy  centered   in  the  support  of   Pompey,  who  had 
proved  himself  a  complacent  friend ;  he  had  been  instrumental 
in  restoring  the  juries  to  them  in  70,  and  in  reinstating  in  the 
province  of  Asia  essential  features  of  that  Gracchan  system  of 
taxation  which  had  proved  so  profitable  to  them  before  the  re- 
forms of  Sulla ;"  he  was  at  this  time  engaged  in  a  war  which 
they  hoped  would— as  it  actually  did— add  Syria  to  the  Roman 
provinces  and  open  there  a  similar  field  for  investment.    Cicero 
had  made  himself  their  spokesman  in  support  of  the  democratic 
movement  for  the  appointment  of  Pompey  to  the  command  in 
this  war.    Since  that  time,  the  democratic  party  had  begun  to 
show  elements  of  radicalism  and  sedition  that  tended  to  estrange 
the  equites,  and  Cicero  with  them.    The  class  formed  a  middle 
party  between  optimates  and  democrats,  holding  the  balance  of 
power.    The  critical  question  for  Cicero  was  whether  he  was 
able  really  to  lead  them,  or  whether  his  policy  would  prevail 
with  them  only  so  far  as  they  thought  it  in  harmony  with  their 
immediate  interests. 

With  this  class  Atticus  was  identified,  but  not  in  an  exclusive 
or  narrowly  partisan  spirit.  During  his  candidacy,  Cicero 
asked  him  to  exert  his  influence  among  those  who  were  travel- 
ling between  Italy  and  the  East  in  connection  with  Pompey's 
campaigns."  These  were  probably  for  the  most  part  members 
of  his  own  class,  but  it  was  with  his  friends  among  the  opti- 
mates that  Cicero  wanted  him  to  work  when  he  urged  him  to 
come  to  Rome  for  the  year  64.^^  Atticus'  personal  friendships 
among  the  nobles  accordingly  date  back  to  the  time  of  his  resi- 

"  Frank,  Roman  Imperialism,  311. 
"  I.  I.  2. 

JL*    4Cf    m>» 


1^     I     f 


dence  in  Greece,  some  of  them,  perhaps,  to  his  school  days. 
There  is  record  of  his  intimacy  with  Hortensius"  and  with  the 
Claudian  family,^^  there  are  traces  of  friendship  with  the  Lu- 
culli.  and  it  is  inherently  probable  that  these  great  connoisseurs 
in  literature  and  the  arts  valued  his  learning  and  his  fine  dis- 
crimination.^' 

As  Cicero,  writing  of  his  consulate  in  the  years  immediately 
following,  ascribed  to  Atticus  a  large  share  in  the  framing  and 
upholding  of  his  policies,"  the  developments  of  the  consulate 
ought  to  throw  light  on  Atticus'  political  tendencies.     These 
developments  were  not  so  much  the  outcome  of  a  constructive 
policy  as  a  reaction  to  events.     The  revolutionary  elements  in 
the  democratic  party  came  increasingly  to  the  fore  during  the 
course  of  the  year,  which  was  inaugurated  with  the  agrarian 
bill  of  Rullus,  in  Cicero's  eyes  nothing  else  than  a  measure  of 
spoliation,  and  closed  with  Catiline's  abortive  attempt  at  mas- 
sacre and  proscription.     Cicero,  who  had  hoped  to  keep  on 
friendly  terms  with  all  parties,  was  forced  by  the  end  of  the 
year  to  rely  upon  a  coalition  of  senators  and  equites  for  the 
defense  of  the  government.    It  cannot  be  doubted  that  Atticus, 
whose  dread  of  disorder  and  violence  had  in  his  youth  driven 
him  to  expatriation,  was  profoundly  influenced  by  these  reve- 
lations, presented  in  the  first  years  of  his  political  life  in  Rome, 
of  the  destructive  tendencies  inherent  in  the  democratic  party. 
Whatever  his  attitude  to  that  party  may  have  been  before  63, 
he  regarded  it  afterwards  with  deep  distrust.    As  interlocutor 
in  De  Legibus,  he  gives  a  scarcely  qualified  assent  to  Quintus' 
diatribe  against  the  tribunate  and  professes  a  lifelong  dislike 
for  all  popular  movements  ;^®  these  words  doubtless  expressed 
his  true  sentiments. 

1*  Nep.  Att.  5,  5 ;  II.  25,  i ;  V.  2,  i ;  9,  2. 

"  II.  7,  2;  9,  I  and  3;  II.  22,  4  and  5. 

"L.  Lucullus  was  a  friend  of  Caecilius  (Nep.  Att.  5;  Val.  Max. 
VII.  8,  5) ;  he  is  mentioned  in  De  Legibus  as  a  friend  of  the  interlocu- 
tors.   For  M.  Lucullus,  cf.  I.  19,  10. 

"I.  17,  6  and  10;  18,  i. 

"  III.  26  and  37. 


56 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS, 


ATTICUS  IN   POLITICS. 


67 


I' 


The  events  that  estranged  Cicero  from  the  democracy  ce- 
mented more  closely  his  connection  with  his  own  class.  It  may 
be  demonstrated  that  neither  Cicero  nor  Atticus  contemplated 
such  a  policy  of  leadership  as  would  secure  the  devotion  of  the 
eqttites  by  unscrupulous  class  legislation/*  and  if  the  field  had 
been  open  for  an  aggressive  policy  on  the  part  of  that  class,  the 
year  might  have  estranged  them  from  their  consular  represen- 
tative. As  it  was,  he  was  brought  to  look  upon  them  as  the 
upholders  of  government  and  they  upon  him  as  the  defender  of 
property  ;=^**  under  his  leadership,  they  broke  completely  with 
the  democracy  and  formed  with  the  senate  the  union  known  as 
the  Concordia. 

In  the  formation  of  the  concordia  Atticus  undoubtedly  played 
an  important  part ;  his  warm  friendships  and  his  business  con- 
nections among  both  the  component  elements  must  have  given 
him  great  influence  in  promoting  harmony ;  his  long  absence 
from  Rome  and  consequent  aloofness  from  the  quarrels  that 
had  divided  the  two  orders  further  qualified  him  for  media- 
tion, while  his  natural  tendency  to  compromise  and  conciliation 
inevitably  disposed  him  to  enthusiasm  for  a  movement  to  unite 
the  two  social  classes  that  bounded  his  sympathy  and  his  in- 
terests. Cicero  pictures  him  as  standing  on  the  slope  of  the 
CapitoHne  on  that  memorable  Nones  of  December,  "the  stand- 
ard-bearer of  the  eqttites,"-^  It  seems  to  have  been  the  only 
occasion  in  his  life  when  his  political  feelings  developed  heat 
enough  to  produce  a  public  demonstration ;  it  was  probably  the 
only  opportunity  ever  afforded  him  to  support  with  some  pros- 
pect of  success  a  cause  in  which  he  thoroughly  believed. 

Thenceforth  the  political  life  of  Atticus  was  destined  to  be  a 
fruitless  opposition,  so  that  it  is  interesting  to  inquire  what  his 
program  was  at  this  period  when  he  held  a  real  leadership  in 
his  party.    Combining  the  evidence  of  63  and  62  with  that  of 

i»Cf.  11.  I,  7  and  8. 

201.  19.  4;  II.  I.  8  and  11;  Ad  Fam.  V.  6,  2;  Ad  Q.  F,  I.  i,  6;  cf. 
PHny,  H.  N.  XXXIII.  34. 


4 


51,  a  year  in  which  he  again  had  occasion  to  express  positive 
ideas,22  we  should  conclude  that  his  governmental  ideals  had 
to  do  with  sound  administration  rather  than  with  constructive 
reform.    He  believed  in  just  administration,  in  legislation  pro- 
moting commerce  without  arousing  class  antagonism  by  fa- 
voritism, in  the  cultivation  of  contentment  and  a  spirit  of  peace 
among  all  classes.    In  his  leadership  of  the  equites,  he  doubt- 
less urged  a  policy  of  moderate  demands,  efficient  public  serv- 
ice, honest  gains.     On  the  other  hand,  his  distrust  of  demo- 
cratic tendencies  cut  him  off  from  investigating  the  causes  of 
discontent  and  from  considering  methods  of  economic  reform; 
we  have  no  evidence  as  to  how  he  was  affected  by  the  misery 
of  the  poor  in  Rome,  but  we  know  that  on  grounds  both  of 
humanity  and  of  sound  business  he  deprecated  the  unhappy 
condition  of  the  provinces.     His  program  for  amelioration, 
however,  was  limited  to  a  correction  of  abuses  under  the  ex- 
isting system.     He  believed  that  much  could  be  done  for  the 
ailing  members  of  the  body  politic  by  teaching  them  and  ap- 
plying to  them  honest  and  vigorous  business  methods.     He 
wxnt  no  further. 

Atticus  believed  in  the  right  of  private  property  and  in  the 
duty  of  the  government  to  defend  that  right.  Doubtless  to  him 
as  to  Cicero,  schemes  for  the  relief  of  debtors  that  were  based 
on  repudiation,  schemes  for  the  relief  of  poverty  that  were 
based  on  confiscation  or  heavy  taxation,  seemed  immoral  and 
subversive  of  the  ends  of  government.^s  His  adherence  to  this 
economic  position  made  him  a  conservative  and  a  defender  of 
the  existing  system. 

For  a  statement  of  the  political  theory  to  which  Cicero  and 
Atticus  had  now  committed  themselves,  with  its  attendant  ad- 
vantages, we  may  quote  Cicero's  summary  of  a  speech  that  he 
made  in  the  senate  in  February  of  61 :  "  The  authority  of  the 
senate,  harmony  with  the  equites,  cordial  support  from  Italy, 

22  See  end  of  ch.  i. 

"  For  a  statement  of  this  position,  see  De  Officiis,  II.  72-^5. 


58 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


the  suppression  of  anarchy,  low  prices,  peace— such  was  the 
substance  of  my  thunderings."^* 

To  Atticus'  poHtical  and  patriotic  interests^'  we  owe  the  in- 
formation on  political  subjects  that  filled  Cicero's  letters  to 
him.  The  letters  are  especially  rich  in  discussion  for  the  period 
of  Atticus'  long  absence  in  6i  and  60,  when  the  friends  still 
hoped  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  concordia  and  analyzed  ac- 
cordingly every  influence  that  became  manifest  in  the  field  of 
politics. 

The  burning  question  was  how  Pompey,  the  erstwhile  cham- 
pion of  democrats  and  equites,  would  face  the  new  alignment 
of  parties  on  his  return.  Both  Cicero  and  Atticus  were  looking 
eagerly  for  the  iroXimos  dvtjp,  the  genuine  statesman.^*  Atticus 
seems  to  have  been  sceptical  from  the  beginning.  Before  the 
end  of  January,  61,  he  expressed  his  opinion  that  Pompey  had 
given  public  approval  to  Cicero's  consulate  only  after  realizing 
that  unfavorable  criticism  would  be  impolitic.-^  Cicero's  own 
impression  was  disappointing ;  he  found  the  great  general  feel- 
ing his  way,  timid  about  espousing  any  cause,  slow  and  secre- 
tive in  forming  plans,  unwilling  to  pronounce  upon  measures 
taken  in  his  absence.^*  Cicero  was  not,  of  course,  Atticus'  only 
informant  on  affairs  at  Rome,  and  often  assumed  that  Atticus 
had  earlier  news  than  that  in  his  letters.^®  At  any  rate,  by  the 
end  of  the  year,  Atticus  seems  to  have  made  up  his  mind  not  to 
put  his  trust  in  Pompey.  Cicero  had  written  to  him  in  July 
that  there  was,  to  all  appearance,  a  close  alliance  between  him- 
self and  Pompey,  implying  that  it  went  no  farther,  on  his  part, 
than  the  producing  of  an  effect  on  the  public  f"*  he  showed  in 
this  letter  his  despair  of  an  effective  championship  of  the  coii- 
cordia,^^    We  do  not  know  Atticus'  answer,  but  when,  in  De- 

2*  1. 14. 4.    For  Atticus'  devotion  to  the  concordia,  see  De  Leg.  Ill,  zi- 
"  I.  16,  7 ;  19,  I. 
2«  I.  18.  6. 
"  I.  13,  4. 
"  I.  13,  4. 

2»I.   12.3;   16,4;    17,8;   II.   19,5. 
8<»I.   16,  II. 

"  I.  16.  6. 


ATTICUS   IN   POLITICS. 


69 


' 


cember,  Cicero  confessed  to  a  real  approximation  toward  Pom- 
pey  for  the  sake  of  security,  he  added,  "  I  anticipate  your 
warnmg  and  I  shall  guard  against  the  dangers  involved  "^^    He 
received  the  expected  protest  at  the  end  of  May,  60,  in  a  letter 
that  Atticus  wrote  on  February  15 :  "  As  to  affairs  of  state,  you 
write  at  once  like  a  friend  and  like  a  wise  counsellor.    My  own 
chosen  course  is  not  at  variance  with  your  recommendations. 
It  is  true  that  I  ought  to  maintain  the  dignity  of  my  own  posi- 
tion,  that  I  ought  not  to  entrust  my  honor  and  safety  to  an- 
other's hands,  and  that  he  of  whom  you  write  has  no  adequate 
and  elevated  policy,  and  is  of  a  temper  to  receive  orders  and  to 
bid  for  popular  approval."     He  defended  his  closer  relation 
with  Pompey  on  the  ground  that  he  exerted  the  greater  influ- 
ence and  did  more  than  Pompey  to  stamp  their  joint  policy, 
thus  benefiting  the  state  by  elevating  Pompey  toward  his  own 
level."    He  had  already,  in  a  letter  of  March  15,  advanced  the 
plea  that  his  union  with  Pompey  was  determined  by  patriotic 
motives.^*    We  do  not  know  what  effect  this  plea  had  upon 
Atticus,  for  when  Cicero  wrote  to  the  same  effect  in  June,  he 
was  answering  a  letter  written  before  even  the  letter  of  March 
15  was  received.^^ 

During  the  spring  of  60  there  is  indicated  for  the  first  time 
in  the  letters  a  quotation  from  Euripides  that  Atticus  used  a 
number  of  times  in  charging  Cicero  not  to  forsake  his  peculiar 
post    in    the    state — %naprav  cXaxcs,  raxrrav  #co<r/ict.       Whether    or 

not  Atticus'  conception  of  this  peculiar  province  changed  with 

the  years,  the  quotation  always  indicates  his  conviction  that 

Cicero  had  public  obligations  from  which  he  had  no  right  to 

withdraw.    In  this  case  the  "  Sparta  "  in  question  seems  to  be 

the  supporters  of  the  concordia,  senators  and  equites  both. 

Cicero  wrote,  "  As  to  my  comrades  in  the  good  cause,  of  whom 

»2 1.  17,  10. 

"1.20,2;  cf.  II.  1,6. 
"  I.  19,  7. 

1  A*  ^\^\^'    ^^^^  Atticus  last  wrote,  Cossinius,  bearer  of  the  March 
letter,  had  not  yet  reached  him  (I.  19,  10  and  15;  II.  i,  i) 


60 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


you  remind  me,  and  that  political  sphere  which  you  say  is  my 
province,  be  assured  that  I  shall  never  abandon  them;  nay, 
further,  that  if  they  fall  away  from  me,  my  convictions  and 
purposes  will  still  remain  unchanged/'^' 

The  truth  is  that  Atticus  was  giving  advice  from  a  distance, 
and  that  Cicero  was  at  some  pains  to  make  him  realize  how 
changed  were  the  possibilities  of  the  situation— a  situation  the 
essential  instability  of  which  he  had  grasped  but  slowly  him- 
self.   In  July  of  6i,  writing  of  "that  political  status  effected 
by  the  combination  of  all  the  better  elements  in  the  state  "  as 
already  fallen,  perhaps  irretrievably,  he  attributed  this  break- 
down of  effective  government  to  the  Clodian  trial,  that  is,  to 
the  forces  of  disorder  and  corruption  f^  but  by  December,  at 
least,  he  began  to  apprehend  an  element  of  disruption  within 
the  optimate  party.     There  was  a  small  senatorial  group  of  a 
virtue  too  severe  to  tolerate  the  frankly  acquisitive  tendencies 
of  the  equites.    Cicero  was  himself  disgusted  with  the  impu- 
dence of  his  order,  their  demand  for  impunity  in  political  cor- 
ruption, their  clamor  to  be  released  from  an  unlucky  tax  con- 
tract; yet  he  felt  himself  bound  to  further  demands  of  which 
he  disapproved  rather  than  disregard  the  mutterings  of  discon- 
tent that  he  detected  among  the  equites,  and  to  exert  all  his  elo- 
quence in  the  senate  on  their  behalf.    "Thus  I  do  my  best  to 
save  our  chosen  policy  from  ruin,  and  defend,  as  best  I  can, 
the  union  that  I  brought  into  being."    But  his  sympathy  was 
with  the  champions  of  morality:  "our  hero  Cato" — thus  he 
spoke  of  their  leading  spirit,  and  up  to  this  point  he  showed  no 
irritation  at  their  disregard  of  expediency.**    In  February  of 
60,  however,  when  describing  that  disorganization  of  which  he 
grew  more  and  more  sensible,  he  named  among  the  causes  the 
abortive  efforts  of  the  senate  to  put  through  legislation  against 
bribery  and  judicial  corruption,  leaving  the  senate  irritated  and 
the  equites  estranged.    In  placing  responsibility  for  the  state  of 

8«  I.  20,  3. 
»T  I.  16,  6. 
«»  I.  17,  9  and  10. 


ATTICUS  IN    POLITICS. 


61 


affairs,  he  reviewed  the  leaders,  scoring  the  pompous  silence  of 
Pompey,  the  contemptible  facility  of  Crassus,  and  then  show- 
ing for  the  first  time  a  profound  discontent  with  the  optimate 
party.  "  You  know  the  others,  the  muddleheads  who  think  that 
their  fishponds  may  be  safe  even  after  the  state  has  fallen. 
There  is  but  one  who  has  the  public  weal  at  heart,  and  he,  I 
am  inclined  to  think,  is  contributing  to  the  cause  more  character 
than  brains,  more  loyalty  than  discretion ;  he  has  been  keeping 
the  poor  tax  farmers,  who  were  devoted  to  him,  on  the  rack 
for  three  months."** 

Atticus  must  have  received  this  letter  before  sending  the  one 
that  Cicero  received  on  June  i,  but  we  find  him  in  that  letter 
reluctant  to  accept  Cicero's  view  of  the  case  or  to  endorse  his 
handling  of  it.    He  evidently  pleaded  with  Cicero  to  maintain 
the  policy  and  alliances  that  he  had  held  before  Pompey's  re- 
turn, and  especially  to  remain  in  cooperation  with  Cato.    Cicero 
again  protested  the  impossibility  of  such  steadfastness  where 
all  was  in  flux,  and  again  pleaded  for  his  policy  of  compromise. 
"Even  if  I  had  no  enemies,  if  all  supported  me  who  ought  to 
do  so,  even  then  the  use  of  remedial  rather  than  surgical  treat- 
ment for  the  body  politic  would  be  commendable ;  but  with  the 
equites  alienated  from  the  senate,  with  our  nobles  feeling  that 
happiness  is  attained  when  the  bearded  mullets  in  their  fish- 
ponds will  feed  from  their  hands,  and  indifferent  to  all  else,  do 
not  I  seem  to  you  to  render  a  real  service  if  I  blunt  the  will  to 
harm  in  those  who  have  the  power  ?    Your  love  for  Cato  is  not 
greater  than  mine ;  but  it  must  be  confessed  that  with  the  most 
admirable  intentions  and  the  most  unswerving  fidelity  he  often 
does  the  commonwealth  harm.    He  talks  as  if  he  were  in  the 
Republic  of  Plato  rather  than  in  these  dregs  of  Romulus'  city. 
What  more  proper  than  that  the  receiver  of  bribes  should  be 
prosecuted?    So  Cato  proposed,  and  the  senate  followed  his 

lead.    The  consequence  is  war  of  the  equites  with  the  senate 

not  with  me ;  I  voted  to  the  contrary.    What  more  shameless 
»•  I.  18. 


f 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


than  the  tax  farmers'  repudiation  of  their  contract  ?  But  we 
ought  to  have  suffered  the  loss  of  money  rather  than  lose  the 
equites,  Cato  opposed  concessions  and  carried  his  point.  As  a 
result,  with  one  consul  in  prison,  in  the  face  of  uprisings,  we 
are  utterly  unsupported  by  the  men  whose  assistance  I  and  my 
successors  employed  in  the  defense  of  the  state.  *Well/  you 
will  say,  *  are  we  to  hire  them  with  pay  ?  *  What  are  we  to  do, 
if  we  cannot  secure  them  otherwise  ?  Are  we  to  place  ourselves 
under  the  heel  of  our  f reedmen— of  our  slaves  ?  **^ 

By  the  middle  of  the  year  Atticus  must  have  known  the  his- 
tory of  the  agrarian  bill  that  Pompey  and  Caesar  were  trying 
to  put  through—how  Cicero,  realizing  the  futility  of  attempt- 
ing to  flout  its  powerful  backers,  had  worked  out  a  compromise 
that  removed  such  features  as  threatened  the  peace  of  Italy, 
and  how  the  senate  had  rejected  his  leadership  and  in  their 
distrust  of  Pompey  had  refused  to  consider  any  agrarian  bill 
of  any  sort.** 

In  spite  of  all  these  reasons  for  changing  his  position,  the 
indications  are  that  Atticus  held  his  ground.    Judging  by  the 
manner  of  his  correspondence  as  a  whole,  we  may  say  with 
certainty  that  Cicero  wrote  the  second  of  his  December  letters 
with  the  confidence  of  Atticus*  approval.     In  it  he  names  the 
courses  open  to  him  with  regard  to  a  new  agrarian  law— a 
manful  resistance,  difficult,  dangerous,  but  honorable;  a  tacit 
consent,  which  meant  nothing  else  than  a  retirement  from  pub- 
lic life ;  a  cordial  support,  which  Caesar  was  cleverly  taking  for 
granted.    He  pictures  the  flattering  prospect  held  out  to  him— 
a  close  alliance  with  Pompey,  with  Caesar,  too,  if  he  liked, 
reconciliation  with  old  enemies,  immunity  from  attacks  of  the 
democracy,  an  easy  old  age— then  puts  it  from  him,  quoting 
from  his  poem  on  his  consulate  the  passage  in  which  Calliope 
admonished  him  to  hold  steadfastly  by  the  policy  of  that  glor- 
ious year.     The  absence  of  deprecation  and  apology  in  the 

A*?  "•  ?•  ^r.*"r  ® '   rt'r  ^%  ^^^^  "'  ^'  ^^'  '"      ^^    ^^^  attitudc  aSCribcd  tO 

Atticus  m  De  Leg.  III.  26  and  37. 
**  I.  19,  4. 


r. 


ATTICUS  IN   POLITICS. 


63 


letter  makes  it  certain  that  Calliope  voiced  the  sentiments  of 
Atticus." 

While  the  advice  of  Atticus  was  that  of  an  absentee,  so  that 
it  must  not  be  judged  by  the  same  standard  as  if  he  had  been 
face  to  face  with  the  facts,  it  is  valuable  evidence  on  his  civic 
ideas  and  standards.     His  attitude  toward  government  is  re- 
vealed as  a  matter  of  sentiment  rather  than  of  practical  politics ; 
his  point  of  view  was  not  that  of  a  money  lender  operating  in 
the  great  web  of  trade  and  centering  his  interests  therein. 
When  a  breach  was  threatened  in  the  concordia,  his  sympathy 
was  not  with  his  own  class.    This  may  have  been  due  partly  to 
personal  predilections:  his  natural  preference  for  distinction 
attached  him  to  the  sphere  of  old  traditions  and  high  breed- 
ing ;"  besides,  he  was  a  man  of  strong  enthusiasms,  and  could 
not  readily  yield  in  his  admiration  for  either  Cicero  or  Cato, 
nor  see  without  sorrow  a  breach  between  them.    The  deciding 
factor,  however,  was  his  type  of  patriotism— a  reverence  for 
and  idealization  of  the  old  aristocratic  tradition  in  government, 
the  conception  of  a  governing  class  distinguished  for  personal 
honor.    It  was  partly  his  fastidiousness  on  the  point  of  honor 
that  had  kept  him  from  going  into  political  life  as  a  young 
man,**  and  his  lack  of  experience  had  enabled  him  to  carry  into 
middle  age  the  ideals  of  his  youth.    Cato's  impractical  opposi- 
tion pleased  him  more  than  Cicero's  well  directed  opportunism. 
At  the  end  of  60,  Atticus  returned  to  Rome  and  probably 
acquired  a  very  different  view  of  the  situation.    The  first  three 
months  of  Caesar's  consulate  sufficed  to  end  his  hope  of  suc- 
cess for  any  constructive  policy  or  even  for  active  opposition. 
He  turned  at  once  to  counsels  of  prudence.    Writing  ten  years 
later,  Cicero  said,  "  While  I  make  duty  my  standard  of  action, 
I  yet  recall  your  counsels.    If  I  had  followed  them,  I  should 
have  escaped  the  misery  of  that  period.    I  remember  the  advice 
you  gave  me  after  sounding  Theophanes  and  Culleo,  and  indeed 

**  II.  3,  3  and  4. 
«  Of.  I.  19,  6. 
**  Nep.  Att  6,  2. 


64 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


I  have  often  recalled  it  with  groans.  Let  me  now  therefore 
return  to  the  old  calculations  that  I  then  rejected,  so  as  to  adopt 
plans  that  ensure — honor  ?  yes,  but  safety  too."*^  It  is  not  pos- 
sible to  tell  exactly  what  the  advice  of  Atticus  was,  but  its 
tendency  can  be  gathered  from  the  points  in  which  Cicero  fol- 
lowed it. 

What  we  know  is  that  in  April  Cicero  was  making  a  tour  of 
his  villas;  that  he  had  for  the  time  being  abjured  political  life 
and  was  anxious  that  his  action  should  be  so  interpreted ;  that 
on  his  return  to  Rome  he  did  not  resume  his  political  activi- 
ties ;  that  in  this  almost  ostentatious  retirement  he  kept  making 
a  real  effort  to  divorce  his  mind  from  its  political  interests,  and 
that  in  furtherance  of  this  end  Atticus  tried  to  distract  and 
stimulate  him,  and  especially  to  divert  his  energy  into  literary 
channels.**  He  also  kept  him  informed  about  the  situation  in 
Rome  by  almost  daily  letters.*^ 

There  is  nothing  to  indicate  how  far  Cicero  was  influenced 
by  Atticus  in  the  crucial  decisions  of  the  first  months  of  59, 
when  the  offer  of  a  place  in  the  triumvirate**'  must  have  meant 
to  him  not  a  mere  vulgar  temptation  to  desert  the  good  cause, 
but  a  possible  chance  to  maintain  a  balance  of  power  between 
the  rising  individualists  and  the  senate.  Did  Atticus,  who 
seems  never  to  have  trusted  that  point  of  view,  persuade  him 
to  abandon  it?  Or  was  Cicero  himself,  as  the  plans  of  Caesar 
and  Pompey  were  unfolded,  shocked  into  a  thoroughgoing  op- 
position? What  seems  probable  from  the  tone  of  the  corre- 
spondence is  that  the  plan  of  retirement  was  worked  out  be- 
tween the  two  friends.  The  letters  show  an  effort  to  reassure 
Atticus,  as  if  he  had  set  the  task  at  which  Cicero  was  working.** 
We  may  take  as  the  motive  of  the  retirement  a  statement  of 
Cicero's  "written  a  few  months  later :  "  I  had  hoped,  as  I  often 

«  VIII.  12,  5. 

*•  II.  4,  I  and  3 ;  6,  I  and  2;  7,  i ;  12,  3 ;  cf.  14,  2. 

*TII.  5,  2;  8,  i;  II,  i;  12,2  and  4;  15,  1. 

*«  De  Prov.  Cons.  41. 

^•II.  4,  2  and  4;  13,  2. 


I. 


I 


lift 


I 


ATTICUS  IN   POLITICS. 


65 


said  -in  talking  with  you,  that  the  revolution  in  the  state  would 
prove  to  have  been  already  accomplished,  and  so  quietly  that 
we  could  scarcely  hear  the  sound  of  it,  scarcely  mark  the  im- 
press of  its  passage ;  and  so  it  would  have  been,  if  people  could 
have  awaited  the  passing  of  the  storm."*®  His  references  to 
Cato's  mistaken  course,^^  the  bitter  feeling  that  he  betrays 
against  the  optimates,*^  ghow  that  he  had  retired  in  despair  of 
leading  an  effective  resistance  to  the  unconstitutional  forcing 
through  of  the  triumvirs'  schemes.  But  Atticus  seems  to  have 
urged  strongly  the  motive  of  prudence*^  and  to  have  been 
anxious  to  keep  his  friend  suppressed;  he  discouraged  even 
social  activities  of  a  public  character.®*  On  coming  back  to 
Rome  in  June,  Cicero  was  assiduous  in  his  professional  labors, 
which  were  profitable  in  their  development  of  personal  rela- 
tions, with  Atticus  apparently  urging  him  on  and  recommend- 
ing clients  to  him.*^  He  took  pains  to  assure  Atticus,  who  had 
pressed  the  point,  that  he  did  not  go  beyond  this  sphere  of 
activity.*® 

"  Safety  in  seclusion  **  seems  then  to  have  been  the  idea  de- 
veloped in  the  walks  and  talks  that  followed  Atticus'  return  to 
Rome.  In  the  meantime,  the  old  optimate  policy  was  still  cher- 
ished as  an  ideal  and  Cato's  judgment  respected  as  the  standard 
of  righteousness.*^  Fear  of  estrangement  from  the  optimates 
was  the  cogent  reason  for  Cicero's  refusal  of  the  proffered 
place  on  the  agrarian  commission.**  Dislike  of  the  dynasts' 
policy  increased  in  both  friends  as  the  year  advanced;**  both 
men  were  convinced  that  their  ultimate  aims  were  revolution 

wil.  21,2;  cf.  19,  3. 
»*  II.  9,  I  and  2. 
"  II.  9.  3 ;  16,  2. 
«II.  19,  I. 

**II.  8,  2;  10;  as  Tyrrell  remarks,  the  taunts  of  Clodius  had  much 
to  do  with  Cicero's  sensitiveness  about  Pompeii  (I.  16,  10). 
"  II.  20,  I. 
»«II.  23,  3. 

"  II.  5,  I. 

6«II.  19,  4;  that  courage  was  needed  for  refusing  this  oflfer  from 
Caesar  is  shown  by  IX.  2a,  i. 
"  II.  7,  2  and  3 ;  8,  I ;  24. 


66 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


and  despotisni.«<»  There  were  slight  differences  in  their  points 
of  view.  Of  the  two,  Atticus  had  more  of  the  enthusiasm  cher- 
ished by  the  optimates  for  the  obstructive  tactics  of  Bibulus.«^ 
On  the  other  hand,  Cicero  was  susceptible  to  an  influence  that 
Pompey's  presence  exerted  on  him,  an  influence  that  operated 
powerfully  at  several  critical  points  in  his  life;  he  was  probably 
affected  too  by  loyalty  to  an  old  enthusiasm.  Atticus  remained 
cold.** 

Cicero  began   to  realize   the  danger   that   threatened   him 
from  Clodius  at  least  as  early  as  June  of  6o.«*    When  Atticus 
left  for  Epirus  in  the  summer  of  59,  it  was  with  the  promise  to 
return  at  a  summons  from  Cicero  if  his  help  should  be  needed 
in  the  face  of  that  danger.**    During  his  absence,  Cicero  felt 
the  loss  of  advantages  on  which  he  had  been  able  to  count  while 
Atticus  was  in  Rome;  Atticus'  ability  to  keep  track  of  the 
doings  of  Clodius,  and  even  his  influence  upon  that  violent 
democrat,*^  his  influence  in  the  sphere  of   Pompey  through 
Theophanes"  and  Varro.*^    The  influence  of  Atticus  on  Clo- 
dius probably  existed  only  in  Cicero's  fancy,  and  it  is  a  question 
whether  the  information  that  Atticus  got  was  not  at  times  a 
blind  trail  on  Which  Clodius  placed  him.    Apparently,  however, 
if  Clodius  deceived  Atticus  he  deceived  Curio  also,**  and  per- 
haps the  impressions  that  Atticus  formed  really  represented 
the  erratic  course  of  Clodius'  shifting  decisions.    As  to  Pom- 
pey, Cicero  felt  that  if  Atticus  were  in  Rome,  the  malign  in- 
fluence of  Crassus  on  his  fellow  triumvir  might  somehow  be 
counteracted.**    As  the  elections,  which  had  been  postponed  to 

«•  II.  14,  I ;  17.  I ;  iS,  I. 

«i  II.  15,  I  (the  interpretation  of  iste  as  a  demonstrative  of  the  second 
person  must  not  be  pushed  in  the  letters,  but  seems  unavoidable  here)  • 
19.2;  21.  5;  cf.  VI.  8,  s. 

!!  II'  '^»  2;  21,  3  and  4;  23,  I ;  20,  I. 
«» II.  I,  4, 
*♦  II.  IS.  2. 

**II.  4,  2;  7.  2  and  3;  8,  i;  9,  i;  22,  i,  4  and  5. 
•«  II.  s,  I ;  17,  3. 

«'  II.  22.  4. 
«•  II.  8.  I. 
••  II.  22,  5. 


ATTICUS   IN    POLITICS. 


67 


mid-October,  drew  near,  he  sent  an  imperative  summons  to 
Atticus,  begging  him  to  come  home,  if  not  for  the  elections,  at 
least  for  Clodius'  tribunate.^**  Atticus  reached  Rome,  perhaps 
by  the  earlier  date,  certainly  by  the  later,  for  he  persuaded 
Cicero  not  to  oppose  the  tribune's  bill  for  the  restoration  of  the 
clubs. ^^ 

58-SEPTEMBER,  57. 

When  Clodius  proposed,  toward  the  end  of  March,  58,  a  bill 
condemning  to  exile  anyone  who  had  put  Roman  citizens  to 
death  without  trial,  Atticus  took  fright,  as  did  most  of  Cicero's 
friends."^  When  an  appeal  to  Pompey  failed  to  elicit  any  as- 
surance of  protection,"  Cato  alone,  it  seems,  advised  a  bold 
stand.^*  Following  the  counsel  of  the  others,  Cicero  appealed 
to  the  people'^  and  finally  left  the  city.  He  afterwards  blatned 
Atticus  for  furthering  so  pusillanimous  a  policy. 

Cicero  expected  and  urged  Atticus  to  follow  him,  promising 
himself  protection  under  Atticus'  convoy  and  on  his  estate  at 
Buthrotum  against  such  of  his  enemies  as  were  in  Greece.''* 
By  mid- July,  however,  he  was  content  to  have  Atticus  stay  in 
Rome,  realizing  that  his  services  there  were  indispensable.^^ 

After  doing  what  he  could  to  promote  the  safety  and  com- 
fort of  Cicero's  journey,^*  Atticus  began  working  for  a  repeal 
of  the  decree  of  exile.  He  had  an  audience  with  Pompey,  who 
seems  to  have  spoken  with  vague  friendliness,  not  in  a  tone 
that  approved  itself  to  Cicero  as  sincere.''**  Under  stimulus 
from  Atticus,  Varro  kept  up  more  or  less  active  efforts  for  the 
recall.*^    Atticus  kept  in  touch  with  Pompey,  who  eventually 

TO  II.  23,  3. 
Ti  III.  IS,  4- 

T2  Die  38,  17;  cf.  III.  8,  4;  15,  5  and  7;  IV.  i,  i ;  cf.  De  Leg,  III.  45. 
T«III.  15,4;  X.  4.3. 

T«III.  15,  2;  Plutarch  says  Lucullus;  Gotta  gave  a  judicial  opinion  to 
the  same  effect  (De  Leg.  III.  45). 

"  III.  15,  5. 
T«III.  2;  7.  I. 
77  III,  12,  3. 

"  III!  7,'i  ;Ad  Fam.  XIV.  4,  2;  cf.  V.  21,  10;  VI.  i,  6. 
T»  III.  9,  2;  19,  3 ;  cf.  Ad  Q.  F.  I.  3,  9. 
«o  III.  8,  3 ;  IS,  3. 


. 


68 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


professed  to  be  waiting  only  for  Caesar's  permission  to  act." 
At  the  same  time,  he  aimed  at  action  in  the  assembly  through 
friendly  tribunes,  whose  plans  he  revised  and  criticised.  These 
efforts  resulted  in  a  bill  introduced  by  eight  tribunes  on  Octo- 
ber 29,  but  without  effect.*^  New  efforts  were  concentrated 
upon  the  magistrates-elect,  both  consuls  and  tribunes.  Through 
the  influence  of  Atticus,  Metellus  Nepos,  who  had  quarrelled 
with  Cicero  in  62,  was  brought  to  acquiesce  in  the  movement 
for  his  recall.^^  Cicero's  expectancy  and  excitement  were  at 
this  time  so  great  that  he  urged  Atticus  to  hire  adherents  in 
order  to  meet  opposition  with  force.**  Both  his  commissions 
and  his  criticisms  during  this  year  show  that  Atticus  was  the 
manager  of  the  campaign  for  recall.®''  In  January  of  57,  the 
measure  was  successful  in  the  senate,  but  the  efforts  of  Clodius 
for  some  months  prevented  action  in  the  assembly.  Atticus 
left  for  Epirus  early  in  the  year,  and  was  still  there  when 
Cicero  finally  returned  to  Rome  in  September.*® 

When  Quintus  came  back  from  his  province  in  the  summer 
of  58,  it  was  feared  that  his  enemies  would  take  advantage  of 
the  diminished  prestige  of  the  family  to  attack  his  administra- 
tion in  the  courts.  Atticus  kept  track  of  the  movement  and 
used  his  influence  against  it ;  in  fact,  Quintus  wrote  to  Marcus 
that  Atticus  was  his  sole  support.*^ 

September  57-51. 

Cicero  felt  more  than  ever,  on  resuming  his  life  in  Rome, 
the  need  of  Atticus'  diligence  and  sagacity  in  the  management 
of  his  affairs  and,  still  more,  in  the  planning  of  his  political 
course.  Within  a  few  days  after  his  return,  gratitude  to 
Pompey  had   swept   him   into   movements   that   puzzled   and 

"  III.  14, 1 ;  13, 1 ;  15,  3 ;  18,  i. 

M  III.  15,  5 ;  19,  2;  20,  3 ;  23,  I,  4  and  5. 
w  III.  22,  2;  23,  I ;  cf.  Ad  Fam.  V.  4. 
"  III.  23,  5. 
"  III.  24,  I ;  25. 
••  IV.  I.  I. 
"  III.  17.  3. 


ATTICUS   IN    POLITICS. 


69 


"t  f  '%' 


troubled  him ;  he  found  himself  advocating  extra-constitutional 
powers  for  Pompey*^  and  rejoicing  in  the  success  of  his  side 
in  the  violent  wrangling  of  the  elections,®®  without  being  able 
to  take  the  measure  of  the  situation  or  to  find  a  place  for 
himself  in  the  new  rule  of  force.  "  Life  has  begun  for  me  on 
different  terms,"  he  wrote,  in  begging  Atticus  to  return  and 
advise  him.****  A  passage  in  one  of  the  first  letters  seems  to 
show  that  before  he  left  Greece  he  and  Atticus  had  worked 
out  a  policy  leaving  Cicero  in  a  somewhat  detached  position 
and  excluding  active  participation  in  the  political  struggle.®^ 

On  January  30  of  56,  Atticus  had  already  landed  in  Italy .•^ 
During  the  next  few  months,  Cicero  regained  for  a  short  time 
his  sense  of  leadership.  Success  in  two  cases  that  had  a  strong 
political  bearing**^  encouraged  him  to  challenge  the  policy  of 
the  dynasts  by  proposing  a  reconsideration  of  the  Campanian 
land  question.  This  attempt  served  only  to  show  him  how 
powerless  he  was.  Pompey  checked  him  by  appealing  to  a 
promise  of  good  behavior  that  Quintus  had  made  on  his  behalf 
to  Caesar  during  the  exile,  and  he  was  made  to  feel  that  the 
meeting  of  Pompey,  Caesar  and  Crassus  at  Luca  cemented  an 
alliance  of  impregnable  power.  It  is  apparent  that  in  this  at- 
tempt to  rally  the  optimate  party  against  the  dynasts  he  was 
acting  against  the  advice  of  Atticus.  Writing  a  short  time 
afterward  from  Antium,  whither  he  retired  after  the  sharp 
check  placed  upon  his  political  efforts,  he  annoimced  to  Atticus 
a  definite  break  with  the  senatorial  party,  by  whom  he  now  feh 
himself  completely  betrayed.  "  I  have  come  to  my  senses  at 
last,"  he  wrote,  "  with  you  to  enlighten  me."®* 

The  advice  of  Atticus,  then,  when  based  on  direct  observa- 

88  IV.  I,  6. 

"  IV,  3, 3-5. 

»o  IV,  I,  8. 

91 IV.  2,  6.  The  reading  ufilttates  meae  has  been  confirmed  by 
Sjogren.    Commentationes  Tullianae,  p.  158. 

92  IV.  4.      . 

^^  Pro  Sestio  and  In  Vatinium. 

9*  IV.  5,  I. 


I  • 


70 


TITUS  POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


tion  of  the  situation,  proves  the  opposite  of  what  he  gave  in  60, 
when  he  was  still  cherishing  theories.  It  is  true  that  the 
strength  of  one  party  and  the  weakness  of  the  other  had  re- 
ceived ample  demonstration  since  that  time,  so  that  it  did  not 
require  superhuman  perspicacity  to  draw  conclusions,  and  yet 
Cicero,  who  had  just  held  the  role  of  absentee,  thought  at  first 
that  the  situation  was  still  hopeful.  Atticus  was  somewhat  in- 
fluenced at  this  time,  it  appears,  by  gratitude  for  the  help  that 
Pompey  had  given  towards  the  recall  of  Cicero.  At  a  later 
time,  he  did  not  estimate  this  so  highly,  but  for  the  moment, 
doubtless  in  the  flush  of  Pompey's  genuine  pleasure  when  the 
cause  prospered,  he  developed  an  enthusiasm  for  Pompey  that 
was  destined  to  influence  him  later.  It  is  not  likely  that  he  had 
given  to  Pompey  any  such  promises  for  Cicero's  future  conduct 
as  Quintus  gave  to  Caesar,  but  he  felt  that  there  was  a  tacit 

obligation.  .      t  u- 

Cicero  wrote  about  this  time  a  document  that  committed  hmi 
to  association  with  the  dynasts.  He  was  somewhat  ashamed 
to  show  it  to  Atticus,  though  he  realized  that  Atticus  would 
welcome  it  as  the  entrance  on  a  course  that  he  had  himself 
recommended,'*^  perhaps  in  almost  the  words  used  by  Cicero: 
"  Since  the  weaklings  will  have  none  of  me,  I  shall  attach  my- 
self to  the  strong."  In  fact,  we  learn  from  a  letter  of  Oc- 
tober,  50,  that  Atticus  had  advised  Cicero  to  attach  hunself  to 
both  Pompey  and  Caesar,  to  Pompey  because  of  obligation,  to 
Caesar  simply  from  prudence,  because  of  his  commanding  posi- 
tion.««  In  the  same  letter,  Cicero  speaks  again  of  his  resistance 
to  Atticus'  advice,  doubtless  referring  to  these  months  after 
his  return  from  exile.  In  his  act  of  submission,  however,  he 
feared  that  he  had  made  the  step  too  marked  for  Atticus*  ap- 
nroval  "  You  will  say  that  what  you  advised  and  urged  was 
a  course  of  conduct,  not  a  compromismg  piece  of  writing. 

»6  IV  ^  M  this  was  doubtless  a  letter  to  Caesar,  and  not,  as  Momm- 
sen  thought,  the  speech  De  Provinciis  Consularibus;  see  Tyrrell  s  argu- 
ment  ad  loc. 

««Vn.  I,  2;  cf.  VIII.  3.  2. 

»'  IV.  5,  2;  cf.  for  this  period,  Phil.  II.  23. 


ATTICUS  IN   POLITICS. 


71 


Atticus  may  have  been  too  cautious  to  advise  the  avowal  of  a 
new  allegiance,  or  he  may  still  have  hoped  that  Cicero  could 
approach  the  dynasts  without  entirely  surrendering  his  inde- 
pendence ;  and  yet  in  his  next  letter,  Cicero  held  Atticus  respon- 
sible for  the  policy  of  subordination  which  he  found  so  bitter 
in  the  working  out.  "  Am  I  then  to  be  a  henchman,  when  I 
refused  to  be  a  leader?    So  it  must  be,  for  such  I  see  is  your 

decision."*^*  .      , 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  in  accordance  with  Atticus  ad- 
vice that  Cicero  rejected  the  tempting  idea  of  peace  in  retire- 
ment ;  he  quoted  the  old  exhortation,  Sir^av  lAaxcs,  rai^rav 
K6afi.€i,  as  expressing  the  only  course  that  his  friend^s  plan  left 
open  to  him,  and,  while  shrinking  from  the  ignoble  acqui- 
escence which  that  course  seemed  to  involve,  he  settled  down 
to  plan  it  out  seriously,  trusting  to  Atticus  to  reinforce  his  de- 
termination during  a  visit  to  Antium.««    The  use  of  the  Euripi- 
dean  verse  is  significant,  for  it  shows  that  while  Atticus  was 
advising   cooperation    with    the    triumvirs— subordination    to 
them,  if  need  be— he  still  felt  that  Cicero  had  a  peculiar  prov- 
ince  in  the  state.    If  it  no  longer  involved  cooperation  with  the 
men  whom  he  had  trusted  in  60,  it  is  likely  that  it  still  held  for 
him  a  moral  significance  and  an  appeal  to  patriotic  feeling.    As 
a  high-minded  and  clean-handed  statesman,  Cicero  was  bound 
not  to  slip  out  of  public  life,  but  in  whatever  way  was  feasible 
to  keep  a  footing  there  and  make  his  ideals  felt.    Writing  in 
the  autumn  of  this  year,  Cicero  said,  "  I  shall  follow  your  ad- 
monition to  retain  my  place  as  a  public  man  and  yet  to  make  no 
rash  moves ;  but  more  prudence  is  needed,  and  I  shall  look  to 
you  for  it,  as  always."'**** 

Atticus  urged  Cicero  at  this  time  to  write  on  Hortensius, 
whether  in  a  friendly  or  a  hostile  spirit  the  text  does  not  show. 

w  IV.  6.  2 

loo^IV  V'  4;  Tyrreirs  translation  for  woXinKiii   with  moderation,  is 
nnt  JZ^n^te-  et  et  requires  an  antithesis.    The  word  is  used  in 

the  sar^  sense  is' in  IV.  6!^i,  though  there  it  denotes  interest,  not  ac 
tivity,  in  public  affairs;  cf.  I.  18,  6;  V.  12,  2. 


72 


TITUS   POMPONIUS   ATTICUS. 


Tyrrell  is  doubtless  right  in  assuming  that  Atticus*  intentions, 
as  usual,  made  for  peace,  and  that  Cicero*s  refusal  was  based 
on  a  conviction  that  even  a  pacific  pamphlet  could  not  be  written 
without  raking  up  old  quarrels.***^ 

The  letters  of  55  are  confined  to  four  preserved  from  Cicero's 
spring  tour  of  his  villas  and  one  written  from  Tusculum  in  No- 
vember. They  show  on  Cicero's  part  distrust  of  Pompey/**^ 
hatred  of  Crassus,^**^  and  reluctance  under  the  yoke  of  adhesion 
to  the  triumvirs.^*** 

The  letters  for  the  summer  of  54,  when  Atticus  was  in  the 
East,  show  nothing  of  his  policy  except  its  extreme  caution. 
Cicero  expected  a  protest  when  he  confessed  that  he  had  taken 
part  in  the  efforts  made  in  the  senate  to  push  the  prosecutions 
for  bribery ;  it  galled  him  to  think  that  at  the  next  meeting  he 
would  not  be  one  of  the  few  to  speak  out  their  convictions 
freely,  but  he  felt  the  demand  of  Atticus  for  silence,  though  he 
could  not  promise  to  respect  it  completely.***^    Atticus  appears 
by  this  time  to  have  lost  faith  in  the  policy  of  Cato,  who  was 
still  opposing  the  triumvirs. ^'^^    At  the  same  time  one  feels  the 
syn,pathy  that  Cicero  appealed  to  after  his  enforced  and  humil- 
iating  defense  of  Gabinius,  when  in  answering  Atticus'  sup- 
posed questions,  "  How  did  you  conduct  yourself  ?  "  and  "  How 
did  Pompey  accept  your  independent  attitude  ?  "  he  insisted  on 
the  decency  of  his  personal  position,  but  went  on  with  an  out- 
pouring of  grief  over  the  failure  of  the  republic  and  the  menace 
of  a  dictatorship,  and  concluded  with  an  appeal  for  the  pres- 
ence of  Atticus,  as  the  person  who  of  all  the  world  most  deeply 
shared  his  feelings.***^ 

This  year  was  marked  by  most  significant  advances  on  the 
part  of  Caesar.*^®     There  are  two  hints  of  Atticus'  feeling 

^'>^  IV,  6,  3. 

102  I V.  9,  I,  m/  loquebatur. 

»03  IV.    13,  2. 

^«>*IV.  13,  I. 

105 IV.  17,  3  and  5. 

io«  IV.  18,  4. 

507  IV,  18,  I  and  2. 

"8  IV.  IS,  10. 


ATTICUS   IN    POLITICS. 


73 


about  Cicero's  gratified  but  dignified  response,  but  both  are 
obscure.  "And  so  Caesar's  friends — Oppius  and  I,  I  mean, 
though  you  may  burst  with  scorn  " — Cicero  wrote  in  October, 
but  the  scorn  imputed  to  Atticus  may  refer  not  to  Cicero's  con- 
nection with  Caesar  but  to  his  cooperation  with  the  parvenu 
Oppius.^®*  Toward  the  end  of  the  year,  after  extolling 
Caesar's  generous  friendship  as  the  one  plank  that  he  had 
saved  from  the  shipwreck,  Cicero  exclaimed,  "Will  you  not 
love  him?  Whom  then  will  you  choose  to  love?"^^°  This  is 
in  line  with  what  he  revealed  later  as  to  the  feeling  of  Atticus 
— that  he  valued  Caesar  only  for  his  power  to  help  or  hurt, 
and  had  no  liking  for  him.*^^ 

Atticus  was  again  left  in  charge  of  Cicero's  political  in- 
terests during  the  latter's  proconsulate.  His  first  activity  was 
to  promote  the  passage  of  a  bill  for  the  increase  of  the  military 
quotas  in  Syria  and  Cilicia,  by  influencing  the  consul  Mar- 
cellus,  whose  colleague  was  blocking  the  bill.^"  He  used  his 
influence  to  further  Cicero's  desire  for  a  prompt  return,  notably 
with  Hortensius,  who  had  recently  been  reconciled  to  Cicero.*^* 
He  still  kept  track  of  Pompey's  plans  through  Varro."*  He 
passed  upon  Cicero's  letters  to  the  senate  before  they  were 
presented."'*  Cicero  placed  the  greatest  confidence  in  his  in- 
fluence, and  insisted  that  everything  depended  on  his  presence 
in  Rome.^^' 

The  first  letters  of  this  period  show  that  both  Cicero  and 
Atticus  realized  how  seriously  the  state  was  menaced  by  the 
threatened  break  between  Caesar  and  the  senate.^^^    While  in 

io»  IV.  17,  7. 

110 IV.  19,  2. 

"1 VII.  I,  2. 

"2V.  4.2;  Ad  Fatn.  III.  3.  i. 

"»  V.  2,  i;  9,  2;  VI.  I,  13. 

"*V.  11,3. 

"»  V.  18,  I. 

"•  V.  15,  3 ;  18,  3 ;  20,  7. 

"^V.  2,  3;  3,  I ;  4,  4. 


74 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


^\ 


54  Atticus  had  urged  Cicero  to  cultivate  the  friendship  of 
Caesar,  in  51  his  effort  was  to  withdraw  him  from  that  con- 
nection, and  he  seems  to  have  ranged  himself  definitely  among 
the  friends  of  Pompey.    Cicero  himself  showed  at  this  time  a 
greater  confidence  in  Pompey  than  he  had  felt  at  any  time  since 
the  latter's   return   from  the  Mithradatic  war.     During  the 
three  days  of  daily  visits  before  he  left  for  his  province,  he  was 
really  edified  by  Pompey's  conversation  on  matters  of  state, 
and  wrote  as  if  he  expected  Atticus  to  share  his  enthusiasm 
with  none  of  the  earlier  scepticism."®    In  fact,  he  suggested, 
apropos  of  a  tribute  paid  by  Atticus  to  Pompey,  that  they  with- 
draw their  charge  of  insincerity."®     "Our  Pompey,"  Cicero 
wrote  during  this  year,  and  notably,  in  contrast  to  his  refer- 
ences   to    Caesar,    "ours,"    without    mention    of    Pompey's 
name."®    Atticus  postponed  his  trip  to  Epirus  in  the  summer 
to  await  Pompey's  return  from  Ariminum;  in  the  latter  part 
of  50,  he  called  on  Pompey  at  Naples  to  sound  him  on  the  sub- 
ject of  Cicero*s  interests  and  on  affairs  of  state,  and  had  a  most 
satisfactory  conversation.*'^ 

Both  Atticus  and  Cicero  had  come  definitely  to  regard  Caesar 
as  dangerous;  the  first  letters  after  Cicero's  departure  asked 
anxiously  about  Caesar's  movements,  and  Cicero  assured  At- 
ticus that  Pompey  was  commendably  ready  to  resist  the  threat- 
ened attack  on  the  state."^  By  the  beginning  of  50,  Atticus 
felt  that  all  hope  of  peace  lay  in  Pompey."*  In  the  late  sum- 
mer, he  wrote  of  Caesar's  expected  arrival  at  Placentia  with 
four  l^ions,  expressing  an  alarm  that  Cicero  fully  shared."* 

In  accordance  with  this  new  position  Atticus  urged  Cicero 
to  pay  a  debt  of  800,000  sesterces  that  he  owed  to  Caesar,  and 
took  on  himself  the  raising  of  the  money. "**    All  the  pressure 

"«  V.  6.  I ;  7 ;  VI.  2,  10. 
"•VI.  I,  II. 
"•VI.  I,  3;  V.  11,2. 
»"  V.  ig,  I ;  VII.  2,  5. 

««V.2.3;7. 
"»VI.  I,  II. 

"*VII.  I,  I. 

"*V.  5,  2;  4.3. 


ATTICUS  IN   POLITICS. 


75 


f 


for  payment  seems  to  have  come  from  the  side  of  Atticus  and 
Cicero,  for  Caesar  would  probably  have  been  glad  to  keep 
Cicero  in  his  debt.  Part  of  the  debt  was  still  unpaid  when 
Cicero  returned,  and  both  he  and  Atticus  were  more  than  ever 
eager  to  be  quit  of  it,  definitely  speaking  of  Caesar  as  a  polit- 
ical opponent  and  wanting  to  remove  every  obstacle  to  inde- 
pendence of  action."® 

Atticus  had  great  hopes  that  the  relegation  of  Cicero  to  a 
province  would  prove  to  be  the  opening  for  him  of  a  new  ave- 
nue of  advance,  that  the  just  and  merciful  administration 
which  he  had  reason  to  expect  from  Cicero  would  win  him  new 
friends  both  in  his  province  and  at  Rome  and  arouse  old  en- 
thusiasms."^ The  administration  was  all  that  he  could  desire, 
but  he  must  have  realized  long  before  Cicero  came  back  that 
the  political  field  was  for  the  present  closed  to  that  form  of 
achievement.  He  was  ambiguous  on  the  question  of  Cicero's 
applying  for  a  triumph,  probably  fearing  a  rebuff."*  He  had 
some  reason  to  fear  that  Cicero  would  spoil  the  good  report  of 
his  administration  by  handing  over  his  post  to  the  irascible 
Quintus,  but  his  guarded  warning  was  so  reinforced  by  Cicero's 
own  misgivings  that  the  plan  was  at  once  abandoned."* 

October,  5o-December,  50. 

The  letters  that  Cicero  received  from  Atticus  at  various 
points  on  his  journey  homeward  showed  that  conflict  between 
Caesar  and  Pompey  was  imminent,  and  challenged  him  to  a  de- 
cision."** His  first  impulse  was  to  assure  Atticus  that  he 
would  ultimately  take  the  side  of  Pompey ;  he  did  so  in  terms 
implying  that  the  strong  moral  feelings  of  Atticus  were  on  that 
side.  He  went  back  to  the  quotation  that  meant  to  him  always 
the  vindication  of  his  honor  before  the  world,  alBw/uu  TpSnis, 

126  VII.  3,  11;  8,  5. 

"T  VI.  I,  7  and  8;  et  passim. 

"*vi.3.3;6,4;9,2;  VII.3, 2. 

"•VI.  6,  3;  9,  3. 
"0  VII.  I,  3. 


76 


TITUS    I'OMroMlS    ATTKUS. 


assigning  to  Atticus  the  role  of  sternest  critic  once  assigned  to 
Cato."^  Atticus*  first  advice  was  of  a  practical  sort,  that  Cicero 
should  keep  the  imperium  that  he  was  then  holding  with  a 
view  to  a  triumph,  whether  for  the  sake  of  his  personal  safety 
or  in  the  hope  of  his  playing  such  a  pacificatory  part  as  Cicero 
fondly  prefigured  for  himself.^^- 

It  may  be  that  Cicero  was  overstraining  the  indications  of 
Atticus*  preference  for  Pompey,  but  the  citations  from  the 
letters  show  that  Atticus  was  at  least  arguing  against  Caesar. 
While  assuring  Cicero  that  he  had  the  utmost  confidence  in  his 
patriotism,  he  combatted  the  personal  claims  of  Caesar  by 
suggesting  that  his  favors  to  Cicero  were  after  all  slight  in 
comparison  with  his  powers  and  Cicero's  deserts.^^"*  He  depre- 
cated the  influence  of  Caelius  upon  Cicero,  setting  over  against 
the  young  man's  heady  Caesarianisni  the  weight  of  two  con- 
sulars."*  Finally,  he  referred  to  the  statue  of  Minerva  that 
Cicero  had  placed  in  the  Capitol,  using  it  as  a  reminder  of  his 
duty  toward  his  country. ^^'*  A  week  or  two  later  he  was  still 
urging  upon  Cicero  the  authority  of  the  optimates  in  Rome, 
declaring  that  they  placed  great  hopes  in  him  and  did  not  doubt 
his  allegiance  to  their  cause.'^**  Cicero  felt  the  pressure  of 
Atticus*  question,  "  How  shall  you  vote  in  the  senate  ?  '*  On 
December  i6  he  answered,  "  I  shall  vote  for  nothing  without 
your  approval,"^^^  and  on  the  next  day,  "  I  really  disapprove 
of  opposing  Caesar,  but  my  vote  shall  go  with  Pompey,"^"®  and 
a  few  days  later  he  phrased  his  decision  thus,  **  I  vote  with 
Gnaeus  Pompey,  that  is,  with  Titus  Pomponius.**^^* 

"iVII.  1.4;  cf.  II.  5.  I. 

i8»  vil.  3,  2  and  3. 

"»  VII.  3,  3. 

1"  VII.  3,  3  and  6;  whether  Volcacius  and  Sulpicius  had  declared  for 
Pompey  or  merely  for  neutrality  wc  cannot  tell;  their  later  course 
leaned  toward  neutrality. 

"»  VII.  3.  3. 

t««  VII.  7.  S- 

"7  VII.  5.  5. 

i3«VII  6,2. 

»3»  VII.  7,  7. 


ATTICUS   IN    POLITICS. 


77 


Unfortunately  the  letters  of  December  were  nearly  all 
written  before  news  could  have  reached  Rome  of  the  investing 
of  Pompey  with  unlimited  military  authority  by  Marcellus,'*® 
so  that  they  do  not  show  whether  Atticus  was  shocked  by  the 
readiness  of  the  Pompeian  side  to  resort  to  arms  or  merely 
thought  that  the  crisis  deinanded  extra  constitutional  meas- 
ures. The  only  letter  written  after  he  knew  of  these  develop- 
ments was  one  in  which  he  asked  Cicero,  who  was  to  have  an 
interview  with  Pompey,  whether  there  was  hope  of  peace. 
After  the  interview  Cicero  replied  that  there  was  not  even  the 
desire  for  it.^*^ 

January,  49-FEBRUARy,  49. 

For  a  period  of  three  weeks,  the  last  days  of  December  and 
the  first  half  of  January,  Cicero  was  apparently  near  Rome 
with  his  lictors  and  in  communication  with  Atticus.  During 
this  interval  Caesar  presented  his  demands  to  the  senate  and 
was  refused,  was  declared  an  enemy  by  a  senattis  consultum 
ultimtim  and  began  his  march  against  Rome.  The  correspond- 
ence was  resumed  when  Cicero  was  swept  along  with  the  rush 
of  the  senate  and  consuls  from  the  city,  following  Pompey's 
refusal  to  defend  it  on  January  17.  Cicero's  first  letter  is  a 
cry  of  disgust  over  the  movement,  at  once  stupid  and  reckless, 
in  which  he  was  involved.^*-  He  wrote  later  that  he  had  seen 
Pompey *s  display  of  timidity  on  the  seventeenth  of  January, 
and  that  he  had  never  been  satisfied  with  him  since. ^'*'^ 

It  is  probable  that  his  displeasure  was  heightened  by  the  fact 

****  Holzapfel,  Die  Anfdnge  des  Burgerkrieges,  Klio,  1903,  and  Nissen, 
cited  by  Holzapfel,  date  this  not  later  than  December  2,  considering 
that  the  news  was  conveyed  by  Atticus  in  a  letter  that  Cicero  received 
on  December  6  (cf.  VII.  3,  i);  internal  evidence  of  this  is  lacking. 
Schmidt,  Cicero  heim  Ausbruch  des  Burgerkrieges,  Neue  Jahrh.,  1891, 
1 21-130,  argues  convincingly  for  a  date  after  the  installation  of  the 
tribunes.  He  places  Pompey's  assumption  of  command  at  Luceria 
about  December  16,  and  the  arrival  of  the  news  in  Rome  about  Decem- 
ber 19. 

"1  VII.  8,  4. 

1*2  VII.  10. 

^'-^  IX.  10,  2. 


78 


TITUS   POMPONIUS   ATTICUS. 


that  Pompey's  action  invalidated  the  moves  toward  peace  in 
which  Cicero  was  already  active.  There  is  testimony  to  the 
effect  that  he  had  urged  the  acceptance  of  the  terms  that 
Caesar  had  proposed  to  the  senate  through  Curio  on  January 
7,^"  and  that  he  later  moved  in  the  senate  the  sending  of  an 
embassy  to  Caesar.'*^  From  the  time  of  his  return  he  had 
been  approached  by  Caesar  with  conciliatory  messages/*'  which 
he  discounted  as  mere  blandishments ;  in  the  second  week  of 
January,  however,  he  had  had  a  night  visit  from  Caelius,  who 
came  as  Caesar's  representative.'*^  He  and  Atticus  must  in- 
evitably have  been  influenced  in  their  decisions  of  the  next  few 
months  by  the  fact  that  Caesar  had  in  a  sense  summoned 
Cicero  to  the  position  of  peacemaker  and  had  tried  to  use  his 
influence  with  the  senate,  whereas  Pompey  had  taken  the  direc- 
tion of  affairs  out  of  the  hands  of  the  senate  and  had  prevented 
negotiations  between  the  senate  and  Caesar."* 

The  fact  that  Pompey  abandoned  Rome  and  the  suspicion 
that  he  would  leave  Italy  seem  to  have  affected  the  attitude 
of  Atticus  also.  On  January  21  he  wrote,  "  Let  us  see  what 
Gnaeus  does  and  how  he  frames  his  plans.  If  he  leaves  Italy, 
he  will  act  wrongly  and  to  my  mind  very  foolishly.  In  that 
case— but  not  before  that  time— we  must  form  other  plans."'*' 
His  advice  on  this  point  remained  consistent,  though  the  tor- 
tured conscience  of  Cicero  sometimes  read  into  his  friend's 
letters  a  reproof  of  his  absence  from  Pompey. 

Following  the  correspondence  from  January  17  through  the 
fall  of  Corfinium  to  Pompey's  withdrawal  from  Luceria  to 
Brundisium,  we  get  some  light  on  Atticus'  estimate  of  Caesar, 
on  his  attitude  toward  Pompey's  policy,  and  on  his  plan— tenta- 
tive and  undeveloped,  but  still  a  plan— for  Cicero. 

"*  Plut.  Caes,  31 ;  Pomp,  59-     ,,     ^    ^t  t      r  1  1        •»    *i,-  1     *u«* 
1*5  Plut.  Pomp,  60;  App.  B.  C.  II.  36;  Holzapfel,  loc.  cit.,  thinks  that 

this  refers  to  the  second  embassy. 

H8VII.  3.  ". 
i«  Ad.  ham,  VIII.  17.  I. 
1*8  Holzapfel,  loc.  cit. 
"» IX.  10.  4- 


ATTICUS   IN   POLITICS. 


79 


As   previous   letters   indicated,  he  distrusted   Caesar  pro- 
foundly, fearing  that  he  would  prove  an  unbridled  despot,  a 
Phalaris."^    In  early  February,  he  wrote  of  dreading  proscrip- 
tions ;^"  a  week  or  two  later  he  seems  to  have  put  the  question 
to  Cicero,  "  Could  you  bear  to  look  upon  the  tyrant?  "—though 
Cicero  was  mistaken  in  thinking  the  question  a  counsel  to  flight ; 
"  the  body  of  this  death,"  "  this  sink  of  filth,"  so  he  spoke  by 
anticipation  of  the  coimtry  destined  to  fall  into  the  hands  of 
Caesar  and  his  ravenous  crew.'"     Both  he  and  Cicero  were 
influenced  in  their  judgment  of  Caesar  by  their  scorn  for  the 
flighty  and  venal  young  men  of  their  acquaintance  who  had 
joined  Caesar,  in  whose  truculent  talk,  moreover,  the  nature 
and  purposes  of  Caesar  were  misrepresented,  and  also  by  that 
association  of  base  elements  with  revolutionary  movements 
which  had  remained  fixed  in  their  minds  since  the  days  of  the 
Catilinarian  conspiracy."'     But  the  conduct  of  Caesar  after 
the  capture  of  Corfinium  made  a  deep  impression  on  Atticus. 
On  March  5,  while  Caesar  was  marching  down  the  coast  to 
Brundisium  and  Cicero  was  shuddering  at  the  thought  of  Pom- 
pey's  being  intercepted,  Atticus  wrote,  "  If  Caesar  continues  to 
act  as  he  has  begun,  with  honesty,  moderation  and  discretion,  I 
shall  review  the  situation  and  consider  carefully  what  is  to  our 
advantage.""*     For  Pompey's  withdrawal  before  Caesar,  he 
had  nothing  but  condemnation.    It  is  probable  that,  like  Cicero, 
he  failed  to  appreciate  the  military  advantage  that  Ponipey 
would  derive  from  a  base  of  operations  in  the  East.    The  idea 
of  abandoning  Italy  seemed  to  him  mere  senseless  folly,  of  a 
piece  with  the  withdrawal  from  Rome ;  he  thought  of  it  usually 
not  as  a  strategic  measure  but  as  a  flight.    "  If  he  leaves  Italy, 
what  end  will  there  be  of  wandering?""^    He  warned'  Cicero 
not  to  involve  himself  in  an  uncertain  and  perilous  flight, 

150  VII.  12,  2. 

151 VII.  22,  I. 

152 IX.  10,9;  cf.  2a,  2. 

153  Cf.  VII.  3,  5. 

154 IX.  10,9;  cf.  2a,  2. 

155  IX.  10,  4- 

156  VII.  23,  2. 


166 


^ 


I 


80 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


and  protested  that  it  was  base  for  the  optimates  to  consider 
flight"'  When  he  did  consider  the  withdrawal  as  a  war  meas- 
ure, his  condemnation  was  even  more  severe ;  it  amounted  to 
nothing  else,  he  thought,  than  setting  the  world  on  fire.  "If 
Pompey  remains  in  Italy,"  he  wrote  late  in  January,  "and 
efforts  at  peace  fail,  the  conflict  will  be,  I  think,  all  too  long ; 
but  if  he  leaves  Italy,  he  will  to  my  mind  be  saddling  an  atro- 
cious war  on  our  posterity. "^'^^ 

The  advice  that  Atticus  gave  to  Cicero  shows  him  prudent, 
as  always,  watching  the  turn  of  events,  but,  more  than  that, 
clinging  tenaciously,  in  the  teeth  of  circumstances,  to  his  old 
idea  of  Cicero's  holding  an  independent  position  of  influence. 
On  January  23  he  expressed  his  opinion  that  if  Pompey  left 
Italy  Cicero  should  return  to  Rome."*  On  February  7,  in  ad- 
vising against  a  participation  in  Pompey's  flight,  he  wrote,  "  To 
go  would  be  to  incur  the  utmost  danger  without  benefiting  the 
state,  and  you  can  be  of  service  to  the  state  later  on,  if  you 
stay."^****  Cicero  appreciated  the  canny  element  in  Atticus'  ad- 
vice, and  at  times,  in  his  unrest  and  distress,  took  a  perverse 
pleasure  in  emphasizing  it.^*^  At  other  times  he  estimated 
more  fairly  the  large  idea  that  lay  under  Atticus'  caution.^'*^ 

^^^  IX.  10,  6;  this  was  written  on  February  11,  when  Atticus  still 
hoped  that  Pompey  would  advance  to  the  relief  of  Domitius.  Cf.  VIII. 
12  f  3* 

»»•»  IX.  10,  5. 

*o»IX.  10,  4;  the  phrase  did  not  then  mean  to  him  gratifying  Caesar. 

i«o  IX.  10,  5. 

'•»  VIII.  12,  5. 

^^^  In  fact  it  was  from  the  conscience  of  Atticus  that  he  most  feared 
judgment  upon  his  own  caution.  A  chance  expression  from  Atticus 
would  set  him  to  condemning  his  politic  course.  Atticus  seems  to  have 
suggested  that  there  was  some  danger  in  staying  in  Italy,  in  case  Pom- 
pey should  be  victorious  (Jovi  ipsi  iniquum,  VIII.  15,  2)  ;  Cicero  con- 
cluded at  once  that  Atticus  thought  that  his  duty  lay  with  Pompey.  He 
charged  himself,  in  his  moments  of  remorse,  with  a  calculating  motive 
in  staying.  This  motive  was  a  most  justifiable  bit  of  prudence  and 
might  well  have  proceeded  from  Atticus,  though  it  seems  not  to  have 
done  so.  In  fact,  Cicero  confessed  it  to  him  somewhat  shamefacedly, 
though  he  had  avowed  it  manfully  to  Pompey  (VIII.  iiD,  7)  :  he  did 
not  wish  to  be  caught  again  at  enmity  with  one  of  the  dynasts  in  case 
the  two  came  to  terms  with  each  other  (X.  8,  5). 

A  difficulty  with  regard  to  Cicero's  position  at  this  period  arises  from 


I 


) 


gjjL 

'^Hjjjjjjjh. 


ATTICUS   IN    POLITICS. 


81 


"Your  advice  approves  itself  to  me,"  he  wrote  on  February 
23,  "  as  honorable  and  at  the  same  time  safe.  I  am  not  influ- 
enced by  the  decisions  of  Lepidus  and  TuUus.  Their  past  does 
not  demand  from  them  what  mine  does  from  me.  But  your 
counsel  influences  me  profoundly,  for  there  is  in  it  a  chance  of 
security  in  the  present  and  of  reestablishment  in  the  future."^" 
On  February  28,  in  asking  for  advice,  he  wrote,  "  Tell  me  what 
part  you  think  it  seemly  for  me  to  play,  where  you  feel  I  could 
be  of  most  service  to  the  state,  whether  there  is  room  for  a 
peacemaker  or  whether  the  whole  field  is  filled  by  war."***  On 
March  i,  moved  doubtless  by  the  clemency  of  Caesar  at  Cor- 
finium,  Atticus  wrote  that  he  still  had  hopes  of  an  interview 
between  Caesar  and  Pompey  with  peace  as  its  result.^**^ 

Atticus  had  no  desire  to  see  Cicero  remain  in  Rome  alone 
and  unsupported ;  he  wanted  him  to  represent  an  idea  and  head 

the  apparent  contradiction  between  Ad  Fam.  XVI.  11,  3;  Ad  Att.  VII. 
II,  5,  and  IX.  iiA,  2.  The  passages  bearing  on  this  have  been  studied 
by  Sternkopf  {Quaestiones  Chronologicae  46,  and  W.  K.  P.,  1899,  480), 
O.  E.  Schmidt  {Briefwechsel,  116,  Neue  Jahrh.,  1891,  121-130),  Bardt 
(Ausgewdhlte  BnV/(?,  1896),  Sjogren  {Charitcs,  Adnotattones  Crtttcae), 
with  fairly  uniform  results.  Ad  Fam.  XVI.  n,  3,  refers  to  a  command 
conferred  by  the  senate  at  the  time  of  the  senatus  consultum  ulttmum 
and  laid  down  by  Cicero  at  the  time  of  the  decretum  tumultus,  when 
the  retention  of  such  a  command  would  have  been  equivalent  to  an 
acceptance  of  war.  "Cicero  rejected  Capua,  after  January  17,  in  the 
interests  of  peace,  making  it  his  object  to  reconcile  Caesar  and  Pom- 
pey."—Sjogren.  The  passages  VII.  11,  5;  I4,  3;  VIII.  iiB,  i ;  Ad  Fam, 
XVI.  12,  5,  refer  to  an  oversight  of  the  western  coast,  hardly  military. 
VIII.  iiD,  3,  and  12,  2,  refer  to  a  summons  from  Pompey  to  come  to 
Capua  and  take  part  in  recruiting.  Cicero  complied  so  far  as  to  go  to 
Capua,  but  not  to  recruit  (so  Sjogren).  He  was  therefore  justified  in 
telling  Caesar  that  he  had  not  joined  either  side  after  the  outbreak  of 
war  (IX.  1 1  A,  2)  and  in  claiming  afterwards  that  he  had  made  unre- 
mitting efforts  for  peace  {Ad  Fam.  VI.  6,  5;  Phil.  II.  23-24;  Brut.  266). 
It  is  notable  that  Caesar  kept  trying  until  Pompey  actually  left  Italy  to 
get  an  interview  with  him,  and  that  Cicero  wrote  to  Caesar  about 
March  19  urging  peace,  not  knowing  that  Pompey  had  already  sailed. 
Atticus  and  Cicero  were  not  then  indulging  impractical  speculations 
when  they  hoped  that  there  was  still  a  chance  for  Cicero  to  mediate. 
i«svill.  9,  3;  cf.  IX.  12,  I. 

164  VIII.    12,  4. 

165  VIII.  15',  3 ;  cf.  Atticus*  advice  to  Cicero  to  let  the  ladies  of  his 
family  remain  in  Rome  and  not  to  send  the  boys  away  (VII.  16,  3; 
17,  I). 


\ 


S2 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


a  following,  not  to  bear  witness  to  a  cause  by  martyrdom.  In 
spite  of  illness,  he  kept  in  touch  with  such  optimates  as  were 
left  in  the  city  and  watched  over  Cicero's  reputation  among 
them.**'  He  was  apprehensive  lest  Cicero's  inactivity  should 
be  construed  as  favorable  to  Caesar.**^  He  told  Cicero  of  crit- 
icisms of  his  course  that  circulated  among  the  optimates,****  but 
spared  him  the  comments  of  the  extremists.*®*  His  hope  was 
that  a  stand  for  peace  could  be  made  within  the  optimate  party. 

There  was  no  wavering  in  his  adherence  to  that  party."°  He 
did  not  think  of  Cicero's  stay  in  Italy  as  an  ultimate  acqui- 
escence in  Caesar's  triumph.  He  wrote  on  February  22,  "If 
Lepidus  and  Volcacius  are  staying,  I  think  that  you  should  stay 
too,  with  this  idea,  that  if  Pompey  makes  his  escape  and  makes 
a  stand  sofnewhere,  you  should  leave  this  carrion  and  choose 
defeat  in  battle  with  him  rather  than  power  at  Caesar's  side 
in  the  sink  of  filth  which  we  can  foresee  here."*"  Again,  on 
March  5,  he  wrote  of  the  possibility  of  Cicero's  joining  Pom- 
pey later  if  there  were  need  of  it :  *'  Your  coming  will  be  all 
the  more  welcome  to  him  then."*" 

Atticus  had  reached  Rome  in  September  of  50  ill  with  fever, 
and  remained  subject  to  attacks  of  quartan  ague  throughout 
the  winter.*"    This  illness  must  have  simplified  decision  about 

i««  VIII.  2,  I ;  II,  7 ;  12,  6;  etc. 

1"  VII.  26,  2. 

168  VIII.  2,  2;  Cicero  construed  the  letter  here  quoted  into  an  unqual- 
ified advocacy  of  the  cause  of  Pompey  and  an  admonition  to  join  him 
(VIII.  2,  2  and  4).  He  was  wrong  in  both  interpretations,  especially 
in  the  second,  for  Atticus  reiterated  in  his  letters  his  disapproval  of 
the  'flight.*  On  February  19  he  wrote,  "Nulla  epistula  significavi,  si 
Gnaeus  Italia  cederet,  ut  tu  una  cederes,  aut  si  significavi,  non  dico  fui 
inconstans,  sed  demens"  (IX.  10.  6)  ;  cf.  IX.  10,  8;  VIII.  11,  4;  IX.  10, 
g,  with  their  dates ;  these  prove  that  (Ticero  is  again  wrong  when  he  says 
on  February  ^3  that  Atticus  thinks  his  duty  is  with  Pompey  (VIII. 

7.  2). 

*«»  Cicero  was  shocked  when  he  learned  these  from  Philotimus 
(VIII.  16.  I). 

*^<*Cf.  VII.  25,  litteras  hilariores;  26,  i,  Quotiens  exorior;  23,  i,  In 
quo  tu  quoque  ingemiscis. 

*^i  IX.  10,  7 ;  this  was  written  before  Atticus  knew  of  the  clemency 
displayed  at  Corfinium. 

"« IX.  10,  9. 

"»  VI.  9,  i;  VII.  12,  6;  VIII,  11,  7;  IX.  7.  7;  X.  16.  6. 


^^|i 


ATTICUS   IN    POLITICS. 


83 


his  own  course  of  conduct.  Cicero,  however,  on  January  22, 
challenged  him  to  a  decision :  "  You  and  Peducaeus  must  con- 
sider what  you  are  going  to  do.  You  hold,  both  of  you,  a  posi- 
tion of  such  prominence  and  dignity  that  you  have  the  same 
obligations  as  the  most  illustrious  men  in  the  state.""*  In  a 
letter  of  March  3,  Atticus  seems  to  have  discussed  the  possi- 
bility of  leaving  Rome,  but  the  text  is  obscure."'  After  hear- 
ing the  news  from  Corfinium,  however,  he  was  content  to  await 
Caesar's  further  action  with  suspended  judgment. 

March,  49. 

After  Pompey's  withdrawal  to  the  coast,  Atticus  still  kept 
postponing  the  moment  of  decision  for  Cicero  by  urging  him 
to  await  the  outcome  of  events  at  Brundisium."'  As  Cicero 
said,  there  was  nothing  to  await  but  Pompey's  flight  and 
Caesar's  return  to  Rome,"^  but  Atticus  seems  to  have  hoped 
that  chance  would  make  some  break  in  the  dreadful  impasse  by 
which  he  felt  his  friend  confronted.  He  evidently  expressed 
his  sense  of  the  hopelessness  of  the  situation  in  a  long  and  com- 
prehensive letter  that  Cicero  answered  on  March  13,  in  words 
that  summarize  Atticus*  estimate  of  the  crisis :  "  I  cannot  say 
that  your  letter  gave  me  new  life,  but  it  did  the  next  best  thing, 
for  I  no  longer  aim  at  a  happy  outcome  of  these  events.  I  see 
clearly  that  while  Caesar  and  Pompey  are  alive— nay,  even  if 
Caesar  survives  alone— there  is  no  hope  for  the  republic ;  and 
so  I  have  ceased  to  hope  for  a  life  of  peace.  I  am  ready  to 
face  disappointment  and  hardship.  My  only  fear  is  lest  I  may 
act  ignobly— lest  I  have  acted  ignobly.""' 

In  the  meantime,  Atticus  gave  practical  advice  for  the  imme- 
diate situation.  He  consistently  recommended  Cicero  to  stay 
at  Formiae"*  and  occupy  a  position  of  genuine  neutrality.    He 

17*  VII.  13,  3-  „.,,..      ^Tv 

1"  VIII.  IS,  I.    He  planned  a  trip  to  Epirus  for  this  spring  (IX.  7, 

7;  X.  16,  6). 
"« IX.  13,  2 ;  IS,  3. 
1"  VIII.  16.  2. 
1"  IX.  7,  I. 
"»IX.  2a,  i;  7,  2;  9,  I. 


% 


84 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


tried  to  fortify  him  against  the  remorse  he  felt  at  not  being 
with  Pompey,  reiterating  his  own  approval  and  that  of  Sex- 
tus/®**  admitting  apparently  that  Pompey  was  likely  to   feel 
aggrieved  at  his  absence,**^  but  combatting  that  exaggerated 
sense   of   obligation    by    which    Cicero    felt    at    times    over- 
whelmed.^^2    Even  in  praising  Cicero  for  putting  away  all  bit- 
terness in  remembering  the  wrongs  that  Pompey  had  done  him, 
he  made  a  list  of  those  wrongs  longer  than  Cicero's  own.^" 
On  the  other  hand,  he  wished  Cicero  to  make  no  concession  to 
Caesar.     He  disapproved  of  Cicero's  proposal  to  go  to  Arpi- 
num,  where  he  would  be  off  the  path  of  Caesar's  victorious 
return  to  Rome.^***    While  he  recognized  that  even  by  staying 
in  Formiae  Cicero  incurred  the  danger  of  pleasing  Caesar  too 
well,  and  being  reckoned  his  friend,  he  thought  it  better  than 
running   away.*"''      He    never    considered    the    possibility    of 
Cicero's  going  to  Rome  and  lending  himself  to  Caesar's  de- 
signs ;  it  would  be  base,  he  said,  for  Cicero  even  to  be  present 
in  a  senate  that  legislated  to  Pompey's  hurt,  criminal  for  him 
to  sanction  such  legislation."*    His  suggestion  was  that  Cicero 
should  ask  for  Caesar's  consent  to  his  staying  away  from  the 
city  and  holding  a  non-partisan  attitude,  abstaining  from  op- 
posing Pompey  as  he  had  abstained  from  opposing  Caesar.***^ 
In  a  letter  of  March  13,  he  adjured  Cicero,  when  it  came  to 
a  meeting  with  Caesar,  to  treat  with  him  on  an  equal  footing, 
without  undue  recognition  of  Caesar's  power  and  with  con- 
fidence in  his  own  position."*    In  a  significant  but  too  com- 
pressed passage  written  on  the  same  day,  Cicero  refers  to  the 

i***  IX.  2a,  I ;  7f  2 ;  10,  10. 

***IX.  7.  4;  13.  3;  Cicero's  own  family  thought  that  it  was  disgraceful 
for  him  to  be  away  from  Pompey  (IX.  6,  4),  and  it  is  probably  true 
that  it  was  Atticus'  consistent  and  confident  advice  that  held  him  at 
Formiae  (IX.  10). 

»«» IX.  9,  I. 

"*  IX.  6,  I ;  7.  2. 

JjtV*   jCcLi^    !• 

"'  IX.  7,  3 ;  9.  I. 
188  IX.  9.  2. 


.1^^        'Hi'      '^^B 


"% 


ATTICUS   IN    POLITICS. 


85 


plan  that  Atticus  suggested  in  case  Caesar  should  refuse  to 
allow  him  an  independent  position.  The  plan  seems  to  be  that 
Cicero  should  take  upon  himself  the  responsibility  of  nego- 
tiating for  peace  with  Caesar  in  the  name  of  the  Pompeian 
party.  Cicero  realized  the  danger  of  the  step,  as  he  knew  that 
his  views  concerning  peace  would  not  please  Pompey,  but  he 
felt  that  of  all  the  dangers  confronting  him  it  was  the  one  to 
be  incurred  with  honor. ^®® 

In  the  meantime,  Atticus  continued  to  discuss  the  possibiHties 
of  Cicero's  escape  from  Italy,  largely  by  way  of  pointing  out 
the  impracticability  of  an  immediate  departure,  yet  recogniz- 
ing escape,  apparently,  as  the  ultimate  choice.^"® 

Atticus'  intercourse  was  largely  with  the  optimates  in 
Rome,^®^  and  his  sympathies  were  with  their  cause.  Cicero 
quoted  Atticus'  own  phrase  when  he  wrote  that  with  the  with- 
drawal of  Pompey  from  Italy  the  sun  seemed  to  have  fallen 
from  heaven.^'*^  It  is  probably  excessive  sensitiveness  to  the 
criticism  circulating  among  the  optimates,  themselves  inactive 
and  irresolute,  that  is  reflected  in  Atticus'  comment  on  the  man- 
ful letter  in  which  Cicero  expressed  to  Caesar  his  hope  of 
peace  and  offered  to  act  as  mediator  ;^"^  they  considered  a  men- 
tion of  Caesar's  "admirable  wisdom"  unduly  flattering,  and 
felt  that  Cicero  had  betrayed  his  own  side  in  admitting  that 
Caesar  had  been  wronged.^®* 

As  to  Caesar,  Atticus*  feeling  seems  still  to  show  the  modi- 
fication produced  by  the  *  clemency '  of  Corfinium.  He  still 
feared  the  greedy  and  unscrupulous  pack  who  were  helping  to 
win  Caesar's  victories, ^''^  but  he  had  less  distrust  of  the  victor 
himself.     He  was  confident  that  Caesar  would  acquiesce  in 

189 IX.  7,  3. 

190 IX.  5, 1 ;  7, 5 ;  9, 1 ;  12,  i. 
1"  IX.  3. 1 ;  5,  3 ;  etc. 
192 IX.  10,  3. 

193  IX.  1 1  A. 

194  VIII.  9,  I ;  for  the  dating  of  this  letter,  about  March  29  instead 
of  February  25,  see  Bardt,  Festschrift  fur  O.  Hirschfeld,  1903,  11-15; 
Schiche,  Z.  G.,  1908,  II.  6;  Sternkopf,  Bursian,  1908,  28.  . 

195  IX.  9,  4. 


I    i 


i 


ff 


S6 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


Cicero's  neutrality^®*  and  he  probably  hoped  that  peace  would 
be  forwarded  by  an  interview  between  the  two,  and  for  that 
reason  insisted  on  their  meeting.  He  by  no  means  gave  Caesar 
a  full  confidence,  however,  for  Cicero  felt  that  there  was  some- 
thing less  than  frank  in  the  intention  of  such  good  optimates 
as  Atticus  and  Peducaeus  to  go  out  as  far  as  the  fifth  mile- 
stone to  meet  the  returning  Caesar.  "I  do  not  criticise  you," 
he  wrote,  "but  in  these  days  there  is  confusion  among  the 
standards  whereby  we  are  wont  to  tell  genuine  goodwill  from 
pretence."*" 

The  suspense  of  the  month  had  its  climax  for  both  friends  in 
the  meeting  between  Cicero  and  Caesar  at  Formiae  on  March 
28.  Cicero  congratulated  himself  on  having  followed  the  ad- 
vice of  Atticus  in  both  its  important  points:  he  had  been  so 
little  complaisant  as  to  deserve  Caesar's  respect  rather  than  his 
gratitude,  and  he  had  maintained  his  refusal  to  go  to  Rome.^'** 
He  had  found  no  complaisance  in  Caesar;  Atticus'  hope  for 
the  victor's  consent  to  an  independent  stand  was  completely 
disappointed.  It  remained  for  Cicero  to  challenge  Atticus  anew 
for  that  decisive  word  which  he  had  postponed  until  they  should 
know  the  result  at  Brundisium.^®' 


April-May,  49. 

Atticus  cheered  Cicero  with  cordial  praise,  both  from  him- 
self and  from  Peducaeus,  for  his  conduct  in  the  interview  with 
Caesar.^****  Cicero's  answering  compliment  on  his  friends'  con- 
duct in  the  crisis,  "  You  and  Sextus  have  held  the  same  digni- 
fied position  as  you  prescribed  for  me,"  makes  it  doubtful 
whether  they  had  gone  out  to  meet  Caesar,  as  they  had  once 
considered  doing.**^ 

i»«  IX.  2a.  I ;  18,  I. 
"7VIII.  9,  2. 
»« IX.  18,  I ;  19,  4. 
iw  IX.  18,  4. 

2<*®X   I    I 
2oiX,'i*4';cf.  VIII.  9,  2. 


ATTICUS   IN    POLITICS. 


87 


The  demand  for  a  decision  found  Atticus  still  reluctant.  He 
asked  Cicero  to  wait  to  see  what  action  Caesar's  first  senate 
would  take.-®-  Though  he  seems  to  have  regarded  Caesar's 
initial  measures  with  censure  and  alarm,-®^  and  to  have  dis- 
trusted the  projects  for  peace  negotiations,^***  he  still  hoped — 
with  no  evidence,  as  he  admitted,  except  his  own  feelings — that 
Cicero  would  be  summoned  to  Rome  to  act  as  mediator.^**^ 

With  Caesar's  failure  to  secure  his  position  by  constitu- 
tional means  and  his  departure  for  Gaul  on  April  6,  Atticus' 
hopes  of  a  composition  were  ended,  and  yet  he  was  reluctant  to 
see  Cicero  leave  Italy ;  he  now  urged  him  to  wait  until  some- 
thing decisive  happened  in  Spain.^**®  Even  when  he  planned  a 
departure  for  Cicero,  he  did  not  feel  it  imperative  that  he 
should  join  Pompey ;  and  while  Cicero  fluctuated  between  join- 
ing Pompey  and  expatriating  himself  in  Athens,  Epirus  or 
Malta,  there  is  no  sign  that  Atticus  tried  to  determine  his  de- 
cision.^**^  In  fact,  he  found  out  through  Balbus  whether  Caesar 
would  favor  Cicero's  retiring  to  Malta.^**® 

We  have  no  letters  between  April  22  and  May  2,  and  after 
that  interval  there  are  constant  veiled  reference  to  a  plan  of 
action  that  Atticus  wanted  Cicero  to  carry  out  after  leaving 
Italy.  It  was  to  be  such  a  stroke  as  would  redeem  in  the  eyes 
of  the  optimates  and  in  his  own  Cicero's  long  hesitation.**^® 
Sicily  seems  to  have  been  the  field  proposed  for  it,***^  and  it  is 
likely  that  the  cooperation  of  Curio  was  hoped  for,  especially 
in  case  Caesar  should  not  be  successful  in  Spain.*^^  A  stand- 
ard was  to  be  set  up,  and  Atticus  advised  a  bold  and  open  initial 
movement.^*^    Great  secrecy  had  to  be  preserved  while  Cicero 

202  X.  I.  2. 

203  X.  I,  2. 

**»*X.  1,4. 

2WX,I,  3. 

2WX.  8.  I. 

20T  IX.  7,  7;  12,  I ;  X.  I,  2;  7,  I ;  9,  I ;  18,  2. 

208  X.  18.  2. 

209  X.  12a.  2. 

210  X.  12,  2. 

"*  X.  7,  3;  10,  3;  12,  2;  13,  3;  cf.  for  Curio's  friendship,  X.  4,  7^10. 
2«X.  15,  2. 


88 


TITUS   POMPONIUS   ATTICUS. 


.cus.  however,  was  deeply  interested  in  seeing  it  tried -'    ^  t' 
the  scheme  never  matured      Rv  n,»  *•        r-  .  "' 

Atticus  had  for  some  time  considered  going  to  F„irus»'=  =.nH 
probably  carried  out  his  plan  in  the  summer     While  i„  Rome 
he  accommodated  himself  to  the  Cae^W.n     -  '"  ^ome, 

on  Caesar  at  fh„  „     .c    .      .       «-aesarian  regime  and  called 

know!-  '^     '"^'''  P''^*^'-  "•^'^  ^•'^^  object  we  do  not 

48-47- 

tremysT?om"Ly1  ^'  ^'^  ^  ^^'"^'  '^''"^''  ^"'^  ^ 
fic^,*-        r  ^"""P^y  *  '^a'"?  were  threaten  ng  him  with  con 

fiscat,on  of  h,s  estates  for  his  failure  to  join  thenT-^   I„T: 
late  autumn,  after  the  defeat  of  Pompey  011  l?! 
returned  unaccomoanieH   t„  r      T-  "  ''esperation 

Caesar's  mer.v  T.  ^'■""d.s.um,  to  cast  himself  on 

uaesar  s  mercy.    Atticus  seems  to  have  been  startled  by  this 

th    cP^'  at't^sa"'  Cicero's  cause  with  the  Caesarian    i'n^ 

an,on"^he  optil^et^^    H?  Js'TJ^  ^^T"'^  ^^"^~ 
TiVAr^'o  f    .  ^^  ^^^">^  powerless  to  advance 

Cicero  s  reconciliation  with  Caesar.     Neoos  sav.  thJr 

was  so  grateful  to  Atticus  for  his  passTv^^^TuH  '^^^^^^^^^ 
war  that  he  spared  hi.  the  requisitionaiy  Jers  whi'ch  he     n 

f reedo^^^^^^^^^^      "'  '^ ""  ^'  ^^^^^-'  -^— -n  gamh eir 
freedom  to  Quintus  and  his  son.--    The  evidence  of  the  letters 
2,3  X.  15,  3.  ^  icuers, 

mri^v'"^' '^^'  '5.2;  16,4. 

2i»XI  6  2'  ^'  ''  ^'  '  ^""^  ^'  '^  ^'  '7a.  2;  18,  2. 
"0  ^«.  7,  3. 


ATTICUS   IN    POLITICS. 


89 


however,  shows  that  Atticus  did  not  feel  free  to  ask  favors 
directly  from  Caesar."^  His  policy  was  now  one  of  concilia- 
tion ;  he  no  longer  counselled  independence,  but  talked  of  the 
necessity  of  adapting  countenance  and  speech  to  changed  cir- 
cumstances and  reminded  Cicero  of  the  passive  acquiescence 
that  had  been  necessary  to  secure  one's  life  in  the  days  of 
Sulla."2  ^ 

On  his  return  to  Italy  in  September,  Caesar  welcomed  the 
advances  of  Cicero,  who  at  once  journeyed  toward  Rome."' 

4M5. 
The  letters  of  46  and  45  show  that  Atticus  lived  on  cordial 
terms  with  the  victorious  Caesarians  without  becoming  a  par- 
tisan of  Caesar.224  j^e  fact  is  that  the  world  was  Caesarian. 
With  Brutus  holding  a  military  and  Varro  a  literary  commis- 
sion under  Caesar,  Atticus  would  have  been  hard  put  to  it  to 
form  a  circle  of  steadfast  Pompeians  from  among  his  old 
friends. 

While  it  is  still  apparent  that  he  could  not  make  the  claims 
of  a  party  man  on  Caesar's  favor,"^  the  urgency  of  his  interest 
in  the  threatened  confiscation  of  land  from  Buthrotum 
prompted  him  to  prepare  a  petition  which  Cicero  presented  to 
Caesar.  This  was  cordially  received ;  a  requisition  was  substi- 
tuted for  the  confiscation.  Atticus  advanced  to  the  Buthro- 
tians  the  money  that  they  needed  to  meet  this  requisition."* 
When  he  discovered  that  colonists  were  nevertheless  gathering 
for  Buthrotian  lands,  he  expressed  his  anxiety  to  Caesar,  and 
received  reassurance  that  after  the  colonists  were  out  of  Italy 
they  would  be  directed  to  another  spot  for  settlement."^ 
221x1.  12,4;  18,2;  25,  I. 

222X1.16,  i;24,  5;2i,  3. 
223  cf  Phil  II   5 

225  VtIv^'  ^'  ^  ^'   ^"^-  7;    14,  4;    19,  2;  47a.   I. 

225  XIII.  20,  I ;  21,  I ;  45,  2. 

226  XII.  6,  4 ;  XVI.  i6a,  4  and  5 ;  the  loan  was  probably  an  act  of  com- 
Passimi  on  the  part  of  Atticus,  as  Cicero  represents  it. 

227  XVI.    16a,   S. 


90 


TITUS  POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


. 


His  attitude  on  various  questions  with  a  political  bearing 
shows  that  he  no  longer  concerned  himself  anxiously  about 
opinion  among  the  Pompeians,  but  was  on  his  guard,  though 
not  to  the  point  of  subserviency,  against  the  disapproval  of  the 
Caesarians.-^'* 

Atticus  was  not  willing  to  have  Cicero  retire  from  public 
life.  Scarcely  a  month  after  the  death  of  Tullia,  he  began  try- 
ing to  arouse  him  from  the  despair  into  which  his  loss  plunged 
him,  urging  upon  him  statesmanship  as  his  iyyvp-nn^t  the  em- 
ployment of  his  old  age,  and  warning  him  that  his  political 
leadership  might  suffer  through  excessive  indulgence  in 
grief.*^* 

Failing  to  persuade  his  friend  to  return  to  the  Forum,  At- 
ticus suggested  that  he  should  write  political  articles,  advising 
first  a  letter  of  counsel  to  Caesar,  such  as  Aristotle  and  Theo- 
pompus  had  written  to  Alexander,  and  acquiescing,  apparently, 
when  that  plan  failed,^'**  in  the  substitution  of  a  literary  essay, 
the  letter  on  Caesar's  Anti-CatoP^  He  next  helped  Cicero  to 
plan  a  political  treatise  in  dialogue  form,  but  this  project  also 
was  abandoned.^*^  Considering,  besides  these  abortive  at- 
tempts, the  works  actually  produced  in  46,  the  Brutus  and  the 
Cato,  with  their  fearless  expression  of  republican  sentiment,^^* 
one  may  feel  that  Atticus*  ideal  for  Cicero's  writing  is  well  ex- 
pressed in  Cicero's  words  to  Varro,  written  in  the  spring  of 
the  same  year,  "  Let  us  be  ready,  in  case  we  are  summoned,  to 
work,  whether  as  architects  or  merely  as  masons,  on  the  struc- 

228X11.  7,  i;  45,  2;  XIII.  10,  2;  39,  2;  42,  I.  In  deciding  how  to 
treat  Dolabella  and  the  younger  Quintus  it  was  necessary  to  consider 
the  political  situation. 

M»XII.  14,  3;  20,  I ;  21,  5;  38a,  I ;  40,  2;  see  Tyrrell,  ad  loc,  with 
comparison  of  XII.  29,  2,  and  Plut.  Cato,  24. 

"oXII.  40,  2;  XIII.  26,  2;  27,  I ;  28,  2  and  3. 

2"  XIII.  47;  50,  i;  cf.  19,  2. 

"2  XIII.  30,  2;  32,  3;  33.  3;  6a;  for  the  significance  of  this  projected 
work  and  for  bibliography  on  it,  see  Miinzer,  Hermes,  1914,  pp.  204-210. 

2M  Cf .  Tyrrell's  citations  and  his  discussion  on  Schmidt's  theory 
{Prog,  on  M.  Brutus,  p.  172),  also  Brut.  4-6,  21,  157,  248,  250  f.,  266, 
280,  324,  328  ff.  Cf.  also  Cicero's  defense  of  himself  against  the  impli- 
cation of  subserviency  in  his  letter  to  Caesar  (XIII.  51,  i). 


ATTICUS   IN    POLITICS. 


91 


■> 


ture  of  the  state;  but  if  there  is  no  call  for  our  services,  let  us 
write  or  read  on  political  subjects,  and  in  literary  works,  if  not 
in  the  senate  house  and  in  the  Forum,  let  us,  like  the  most 
learned  ancients,  guide  the  state  and  be  its  pathfinders  in  ques- 
tions of  morals  and  law.'*^** 

We  have  unfortunately  no  record  of  Atticus'  opinions  for 
the  period  when  Cicero's  faith  in  Caesar  was  at  its  highest,  the 
autumn  of  46.  From  the  letters  of  45,  it  appears  that  Cicero 
was  more  restive  than  Atticus  under  the  limitations  imposed  on 
free  speech  and  free  political  action  ;"5  but  Atticus  was  subject 
to  alarm,  filled  with  distrust.^^^  The  two  friends,  however, 
discussed  without  bitterness  Cicero's  plan  for  meeting  Caesar 
on  his  return  from  Spain ;  they  had  settled  down  to  limited 
expectations.^*^ 

44. 

The  next  letters  to  Atticus  follow  the  assassination  of  Caesar. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  first  reaction  of  Atticus  to  the 
shock  of  that  event,  he  joined  the  group  of  those  who  openly 
rejoiced  in  it,^^^  and  was  apparently  present  at  the  early  con- 
ferences at  which  further  plans  for  the  tyrannicides  were  dis- 
cussed.   He  favored  a  bold  stand,  and  exclaimed  that  if  a  pub- 
lic  funeral  was  accorded  to  Caesar,  the  cause  was  lost.^*® 
Later  on,  in  his  discontent  with  the  precarious  amnesty  under 
which  the  tyrannicides   were   livii^  in  uneasy  passivity,  he 
found  fault  with  the  first  action  of  the  senate,^**'  the  compro- 
mise by  which,  on  March  7,  amnesty  was  granted  to  the  tyran- 
nicides and  the  acta  of  Caesar  were  declared  valid.     When 
Cicero,  by  pushing  responsibility  farther  back,  forced  him  to 
23*  Ad  Fam.  IX.  2,  5. 

23«  XIII.  44,  I ;  10,  I. 

2*^X111.  50,  4;  their  hopes  might  be  expressed  in  Cicero's  summing 
up  of  Caesar  s  visit,  Zrov^otoF  omy,  in  sermone,  i>t\6\oya  tnulta  f  XIII 
52.  2). 

"«XIV.  22,  2;  so  13,  2. 

289  XIV.  10,  I ;  14,  3. 

a*»XIV.  10,  I. 


92 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


i! 


a  defense  of  the  Bruti  and  Cassius,  Atticus  insisted,  evidently, 
that  the  friends  of  the  conspirators  should  either  have  absented 
themselves  on  that  day  or  have  spoken  freely.  Cicero  re- 
minded him  that  the  senate  had  been  beset  by  Caesar's  vet- 
erans.**^ After  it  became  evident  that  no  positive  action  or 
leadership  was  to  be  expected  from  Brutus,  he  watched  the 
course  of  events,  looking  for  signs  of  public  or  official  favor 
or  hostility  toward  the  "  heroes.""*  Before  the  end  of  April, 
he  adopted  Cicero's  formula  of  resignation,  "  We  must  be  con- 
tent with  the  great  deed  itself."*** 

Yet  he  did  not  give  himself  up  to  inaction.  After  Brutus,  in 
mid-April,  went  into  semi-retirement  at  Lanuvium,  Atticus  ran 
down  often  from  the  city  to  confer  with  him  and  Cassius  on 
the  next  steps  to  be  taken.***  He  realized  that  the  safety  of 
Brutus  depended  on  the  tolerance  of  Antony.**^  Perceiving 
that  Antony  was  really  hostile,  he  was  glad  to  see  him  opposed 
by  any  one  in  a  less  precarious  position  than  Brutus.*** 
Whether  it  was  action  or  caution  that  he  recommended  to 
Brutus  at  this  time,  he  did  what  lay  in  his  power  to  rally  a  party 
around  him. 

His  first  effort  was  of  course  to  bring  about  a  close  com- 
bination between  Brutus  and  Cicero.  When  Brutus  and  Cas- 
sius were  preparing  the  edict  which  they  were  to  put  forth,  in 
accordance  with  their  agreement  with  Antony,  to  disperse  the 
groups  of  partisans  gathered  in  the  towns  for  their  support, 
Atticus  tried  to  bring  Cicero  into  cooperation  by  getting  him 
to  prepare  a  draft  for  the  edict**^  and  to  outline  a  policy  to  be 

««  XIV.  14.  2. 

»«XIV.  I,  I ;  2,  I ;  3,2;  5,  I ;  6.  i. 

"»  XIV.  14.  3. 

2**  XIV.  20.  I ;  21,  I ;  22,  2;  XV.  4,  2;  9,  2;  20.  2;  for  Atticus'  coopera- 
tion with  Brutus  at  a  still  earlier  time,  see  XIV.  8,  2. 

2" XIV.  6,  I ;  7.  I ;  8.  I ;  10,  I ;  14,  7;  XV.  9,  I. 

2*«  XIV.  15,  I  and  2;  cf.  Phil.  I.  5  and  30;  XIV.  16,  2;  ig,  1;  20,  4;  Ad 
Fam.  XII.  I. 

2«XIV.  20,  I  and  3;  Brutus  followed  his  own  plan  rather  than 
Cicero's,  but  as  Atticus  wrote  from  Lanuvium  it  is  likely  that  he  passed 
upon  the  edict  before  it  was  issued. 


ATTICUS   IN    POLITICS. 


93 


followed  after  the  publication.^**    About  a  week  later,  writing 
that  the  courteous  tone  of  the  edicts  gave  him  confidence  and 
hope,2*»  he  sent  a  request  from  Brutus  that  Cicero  meet  and 
advise  him  before  June  i,^^*^  the  day  appointed  for  the  meeting 
of  the  senate.    He  tried  to  persuade  Cicero  to  further  the  cause 
by  political  writing,  advising  first  a  history  of  the  times,  ex- 
posing to  posterity  the  ruthless  masters  of  the  state,"^  next 
the  embodiment  of  the  same  material  in  a  book  of  anecdotes,"- 
next  a  contio  for  the  use  of  Brutus,  and,  when  Cicero  pointed 
out  the  thanklessness  of  that  task,^^^  an  ideal  oration  purport- 
ing to  be  spoken  by  Brutus  after  the  assassination  of  Caesar."* 
Upon  Cicero's  protest  that  such  an  oration  would  be  a  reflec- 
tion on  the  speech  that  Brutus  had  actually  delivered  and  had 
afterwards  circulated,  Atticus  only  pressed  his  request  for  a 
piece  of  writing  more  strongly,  varying  the  terms ;  "  something 
in  the  manner  of  Heracleides,"  he  urged.^^'^    Cicero  promised 
to  consider  such  a  pamphlet,  but  asked  leave  to  wait  until  he 
was  less  out  of  humor  with  the  political  situation.^^*    Atticus 
must  have  accepted  the  postponement  with  regret,  since  it  was 
just  because  the  times  were  "out  of  joint"  that  he  wanted 
Cicero  to  write.    At  parting  from  Atticus  in  July,  Cicero  prom- 
ised to  begin  work  on  the  pamphlet  on  reaching  Brundisium.^"^ 
Besides,  Atticus  kept  in  touch  with  his  old  friends  among 
the  Caesarians,*"  and  doubtless  seconded,  if  he  did  not  sug- 
gest, the  efforts  of  Brutus  and  Cassius  to  form  a  party  among 
them."*    He  seems  finally  to  have  assented,  however,  to  the 

2«  XIV.  20,  4. 

2*9  XV.  I,  3 ;  the  plural  shows  that  Antony  had  replied. 

2«oXV.  I,  5. 

2"  XIV.  14,  5. 

252  XIV.  17,  6. 

2"  XIV.  20,  3 ;  XV.  2,  2. 

2«*XV.  3,  2;cf.  la.  2. 

286  XV.  4.  3. 

256  XV.  4,  3. 
2"  XV.  27,  2. 

258  XVI.  2,  5 ;  3,  5 ;  Ad  Fam.  XI.  29. 

260  XIV.  20,  4;  XV.  5,  I ;  6,  I ;  for  Atticus  advising  Cassius,  see 
XIV.  19,  I. 


h 


I 


94 


TITUS   POMPONIUS  ATTICUS. 


judgment  that  Cicero  passed  upon  them,  specifically  upon  Hir- 
tius  and  Balbus,  "They  are  afraid  of  peace"— a  phrase  aptly 
conveying  the  essential  instability  of  a  state  in  which  large 
property  holdings  rested  on  confiscation.^®'' 

During  the  latter  part  of  April  and  the  whole  of  May,  such 
reports  of  Antony's  plans-®^  were  current  that  toward  the  end 
of  May  Atticus  confessed  that  he  could  not  advise  the  tyran- 
nicides,2«2  ^nd  Cicero,  when  appealed  to,  wrote  that  he  also  was 
devoid  of  counsel.^®^  The  pacific  protest  of  Brutus  and  Cas- 
sius^"*  brought  them  no  reassurance  from  Antony,  and  they 
did  not  venture  to  appear  in  Rome.  After  the  ineffectual  meet- 
ing of  the  senate  on  June  i  and  the  pushing  through  of  An- 
tony's designs  on  Gaul  in  the  assembly  on  June  2,  when  it 
began  to  be  reported  that  the  provinces  of  Brutus  and  Cassius 
would  be  discussed  in  the  senate  on  June  5,  Atticus  was  sum- 
moned to  a  special  conference  at  Lanuvium,  but  was  unable 
to  go.^®*  He  was  not  present  at  the  conference  of  the  same  sort 
that  Cicero  attended  at  Antium  on  June  8,  where  the  question 
was  discussed  whether  Brutus  and  Cassius  should  allow  them- 
selves to  be  removed  from  Italy  as  commissioners  of  grain.'-*** 

One  result  of  these  conferences  was  that  Brutus  decided  to 
celebrate  his  praetorial  games,  in  order  to  keep  his  cause  before 
the  public.  As  his  friends  thought  it  too  imprudent  for  him  to 
appear  in  Rome,  the  preparations  and  the  actual  production 
had  to  be  administered  by  others,  and  for  these  Atticus  was 
largely  responsible.  He  spared  no  labor,  as  Brutus  spared  no 
expense,  in  his  efforts  to  interest  and  please  the  spectators. 
He  watched  the  production  and  its  effect,  and  sent  accounts  to 
Cicero  at  Puteoli  and  to  Brutus,  who  was  tarrying  in  the  island 

2«o  XIV.  6,  1 :  10,  2;  21,  2  and  4;  XV.  2,  3 ;  22. 
«"  XIV.  14,  4;  21,  2;  22,  2;  XV.  4,  I. 
««»  XV.  4,  2. 

»«»XV.  5.  I. 
"*  Ad  Fam.  XI.  2. 
^•*XV.  9,  2;  10,  I. 

t««XV.  9,  I ;  II,  I ;  Atticus  and  Cicero  were  at  Lanuvium  together  at 
least  once  during  this  period  (XV.  20,  2). 


ATTICUS   IN    POLITICS. 


95 


of  Nesis  hoping  that  the  games  would  produce  some  mani- 
festation in  his  favor.-®" 

In  the  meantime,  the  position  of  Atticus  was  complicated  by 
the  recurrence  of  the  Buthrotian  trouble.    Caesar's  death  had 
left  uncompleted  the  plan  to  deflect  th^  colonists  to  another 
place  of  settlement,  and  the  matter  had  to  be  taken  up  afresh 
with  those  in  control  of  affairs.    The  case  was  clear  and  well 
attested  and  its  equity  w^as  evident,^®*  but  there  was  reason 
to  fear  that  much  depended  on  the  caprice  of  the  consuls.    At- 
ticus' fortune,  as  well  as  his  reputation  for  influence  in  the 
politico-financial  world,  was  at  stake,^®^  and  he  consequently 
feared  to  antagonize  Antony.    It  was  probably  on  account  of 
Buthrotum  that  Cicero,  who  answered  Atticus'  earnest  appeals 
by  protesting  an  equal  interest  in  the  cause,^^^  in  late  April  gave 
a  favorable  reply  to  Antony's  request  about  the  return  of  Sex- 
tus  Clodius,  deeply  as  he  disapproved  of  Antony's  action."^ 
Atticus  hoped  for  action  in  the  senate  on  June  i,  and  urged 
Cicero  to  attend  even  after  Cicero  pointed  out  the  impossibility 
of  accomplishing  anything  in  the  senate  when  Antony  was 
steadily  gathering  troops.^^^     Atticus  evidently  gave  up  the 
hope  of  senatorial  action  during  the  last  days  of  May,  fior 
Cicero  in  those  days  decided  against  going  to  Rome,  though  he 
held  himself  in  readiness,  until  the  last  moment,  to  start  at  a 
summons  from  Atticus.^^'     After  the  execution  of  Caesar's 
acta  was  put  into  the  hands  of  the  consuls  by  the  plebescite  of 
June  2,^^*  Atticus  submitted  to  them  the  case  of  Buthrotum; 
they  gave  a  favorable  answer  at  once.^^* 

2«TXV.  10,  i;  II,  2;  cf.  12,  i;  18,  2;  21,  2;  24;  28;  XVI.  I,  i;  2,  3; 
5.  3 ;  Phil.  I.  36. 
2«»  XIV.  12,  I. 
2«»  Cf .  XVI.  16A,  7. 
2T0XIV.  io,3;XV.  2,  i;4,3. 
*^*  XIV.  13,  6  *  XV.  I  2. 

"i XIV.  14,  6;  17,  2;  19,  4;  20,  2;  XV.  I,  2;  2,  2;  4,  I  and  3. 
2T»XV.  8,  I. 

2T4XVI.  16C,   II. 

"»See  XV.  12,  I,  written  on  June  9  or  10;  in  his  first  letter  to 
Plancus  (XVI.  16A,  6),  Cicero  says  that  the  case  was  submitted  to  the 
consuls  and  favorably  passed  on  by  them  after  they  had  been  entrusted 


9v 


TITUS   POMPON lUS   ATTICUS. 


By  the  middle  of  June,  however,  when  Atticus  was  already 
burdened  with  the  preparation  for  Brutus*  games,  he  found 
that  Lucius  Antony   was  obstructing  the  settlement  of  the 
Buthrotian  aflFair,  and,  later,  that  the  case  had  to  be  referred  to 
a  decemvirate  of  land  commissioners ;"«  he  confessed  that  he 
was  in  despair.     He  and  Cicero  brought  every  possible  influ- 
ence to  bear  upon  the  consuls,  and  Cicero  wrote  repeatedly  to 
Plancus,  the  leader  of  the  colonists,  to  members  of  Plancus' 
suite,  and  to  Oppius.^"     About  the  end  of  the  first  week  in 
July,  Atticus  was  able  to  report  that  the  matter  was  settled.^'* 
A  week  or  two  later,  he  met  Antony  at  Tibur,  and  pocketing  all 
the  grievances  that  he  cherished  on  behalf  of  his   friends, 
thanked  him  warmly  for  his  assistance  in  the  affair  of  Buthro- 
tum.    He  wrote  apologetically  of  this  dissimulation  to  Cicero, 
who  answered  with  unqualified  approval :  "  As  you  say,  our 
fortunes  will  be  with  us  when  the  constitution  has  fallen  to 
pieces.***^* 

Atticus  now  planned  a  trip  to  Epirus.^so  and  Cicero  and 
Brutus  were  both  considering  retiring  to  Greece.  Cicero  sub- 
mitted to  Atticus  the  question  whether  it  was  honorable,  pos- 
sible and  expedient  for  him  to  leave  the  country,  declaring  his 
willingness  to  stay  until  he  had  done  all  in  his  power  for 
Brutus.^"  It  was  agreed  between  them  that  Cicero  might  well 
go,  with  the  proviso  that  he  should  return  by  January  i,  when 
Antony's  consulate  would  be  ended  and  there  might  be  hope 
for  constitutional  government.^"  He  left  during  the  last  week 
in  July.*®^ 

with  the  execution  of  the  acta  by  a  senatus  consultum,  i.e.,  after  March 
17;  the  evidence  of  the  letters  shows  that  the  statement  to  Capito  is 
more  accurate. 
"«XV.  IS,  i;  19,  I. 

Ill  SXv  '7'  I ;  19, 1 ;  14. 2;  27. 2;  XVI.  2,  5 ;  16.  A-F. 

2T8  XVI.  2,  I  and  5. 

"•  XVI.  3,  I. 

"•XV.  27,  2;  XVI.  2,  6. 

Ill  ^lYr'  7»  2;  13.  4;  14.  7;  15,  2;  16,  3. 
"2  XVI.  I,  3;  2,  4  and  6;  6.  2. 
"»XV.27.2;XVI.6. 


P 


^     P 


) 


>  r  f 


ATTICUS   IN    POLITICS. 


97 


As  it  turned  out,  neither  Brutus  nor  Atticus  left  Italy  at  that 
time.  When  Cicero,  thrown  back  upon  Italy  by  contrary  winds, 
came  into  contact  with  Roman  affairs  again,  he  found  that  the 
position  of  the  tyrannicides  wore  a  more  positive  and  promis- 
ing aspect.^®*  It  was  a  most  unwelcome  surprise  to  him  to  find 
Atticus  criticising  his  absence  from  the  country,  saying  that 
Cato  would  hardly  have  approved  it.  He  answered  that  At- 
ticus would  have  served  as  his  Cato,  then  as  always,  if  he  had 
only  expressed  such  opinions  earlier.^^®  Evidently  either 
Cicero  had  misinterpreted  Atticus*  letters  informing  him  of 
public  sentiment  in  favor  of  his  going,  not  sufficiently  weigh- 
ing, in  his  eagerness,  the  persistence  of  certain  reservations 
that  Atticus  had  expressed  at  the  first,  or  Atticus  had  been  in- 
fluenced, during  Cicero's  absence,  by  sentiment  in  the  circle  of 
Brutus*  friends — where  there  seems  indeed  to  have  been  a  new 
activity — and  had  really  changed  his  mind  about  Cicero's  right 
to  be  absent. 

When  Cicero  returned  he  declared  against  assuming  political 
leadership,  as  Brutus  wanted  him  to  do.^®®  Two  months  later 
he  opened  a  letter  by  concurring  with  Atticus'  decision,  "  Our 
role  is,  not  to  lead  a  party  or  even  to  form  one,  but  to  co- 
operate where  we  can.**  The  same  letter  committed  the  sec- 
ond Philippic  to  the  care  of  Atticus,  leaving  with  him  the  de- 
cision as  to  when  it  should  be  published.  Atticus  was  still 
postponing  a  break  with  Antony.  He  even  talked  of  an  under- 
standing between  him  and  Cicero,  but  Cicero  felt  that  silence, 
i.  e.,  the  temporary  suppression  of  the  second  Philippic,  was  a 
more  feasible  policy.  Both  felt  that  they  would  gain  by  wait- 
ing until  Antony  was  no  longer  consul,  and  that  in  the  mean- 
time events  might  favor  them.  The  progress  of  Sextus  Pom- 
pey  in  Spain  still  gave  foundation  for  hope,  but  Antony  was 

"♦XVI.  7,  I  and  7;  Ad  Fam.  XI.  3;  Phil.  I.  10. 

285  XVI.  7,  2-5.  In  view  of  this  letter,  one  must  take  the  magna 
hir-fi  of  XVI.  5,  4,  as  simply  the  facts  given  in  Atticus'  letter,  showing 
the  dangers  gathering  in  Italy. 

28«XVI.  7,  7;cf.  P;ji7.  V.  20. 


I  * 


1 


98 


TITUS   POMPONIUS   ATTICUS. 


landing  legions  from  the  East;  it  was  no  moment  to  defy  him. 
Cicero  felt  a  strong  impetus  to  write  the  Heracleidean  pam- 
phlet, and  asked  Atticus,  who  still  desired  it  eagerly,  to  decide 
on  its  nature  and  plan.^®^ 

One  reason,  doubtless,  why  Atticus  held  back  from  action 
was  that  he  questioned  the  wisdom  of  using  the  one  instru- 
ment against  Antony  that  was  at  hand,  Octavian.    In  spite  of 
the   conspicuous  deference   which   that  youth   had  shown  to 
Cicero  from  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  Italy  in  April,2»»  Atticus 
remained  sceptical.     He  had  disliked  Octavian's  first  contio, 
delivered  in  May,  had  disapproved  of  his  games  in  honor  of 
the  victory  of  Pharsalia.^***  and  had  been  pleased  when  his 
efforts  to  display  insignia  of  Caesar  were  thwarted  and  con- 
demned.2»«    Cicero  at  first  suspended  judgment,-"^  but  by  No- 
vember Octavian's  assiduity  in  consulting  him  forced  him  into 
a  reluctant  sponsorship  for  the  young  man's  advance  to  Rome 
with  his  soldiers.=*"2     jj^  realized  that  the  absence  of  Brutus 
left  the  opponents  of  Antony  dependent  on  Octavian  for  de- 
fense.-**^     Atticus    still   resisted    this    conviction.-^*     Though 
Octavian  showed  an  admirable  intention  to  defer  to  the  sen- 
ate^M  and  constantly  urged  the  leadership  of  his  party  on 
Cicero,^*®  Atticus,  even  while  recognizing  that  the  battle  was 
on  between  Octavian  and  Antony  and  that  the  issue  pressed 
for  a  decision,^^^  warned  Cicero  that  Octavian's  accession  to 
power  would  mean  an  even  more  unassailable  ratification  of 
Caesar's  acta  than  Antony  had  achieved,  and  that  the  result 
««T  XV.  13. 

188  XIV.  II,  2;  12,  2. 

"•  XV.  2,  3. 

«»  XV.  3.  2. 

»«XV.  I2,2;XVI.  8,  i;9. 

2»2XVI.  8,  2;  cf.  9,  consilio  tuo, 

«•»  XVI.  8,  I  and  2. 

«»*  Cicero  was  probably  influenced  by  Atticus  in  his  desire  not  to 
commit  himself  to  Octavian's  cause  without  good  backing.  Cf.  XVI. 
9,  Nil  sine  Pansa  tuo  volo. 

«»*XVI.  9;  11,6. 

2WXVI.  9:  II.  6. 

2"Cf.  XVI.  13a,  2;  14,  I. 


P   '# 


ATTICUS  IN   POLITICS. 


99 


would  be  pernicious  for  Brutus.^®*  A  contio  in  which  Octa- 
vian praised  Caesar  added  to  his  distrust.^®^  He  besought 
Cicero  to  move  slowly,  cautiously,^**"  reminding  him  that  the 
overthrow  of  Antony  would  not  in  itself  guarantee  a  free  state, 
and  calling  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  Casca's  candidacy  for 
the  tribunate,  on  which  Octavian  wx)uld  have  to  take  a  stand 
by  December  13,  offered  them  an  adequate  test  of  his  real  in- 
tentions with  regard  to  the  tyrannicides.^®^ 

When  Cicero  submitted  to  Atticus  the  question  of  his  com- 
ing to  Rome  before  January  i,  alleging  again  and  again  his 
fear  that  some  valiant  stroke  would  be  struck  while  he  was 
ingloriously  absent,^*'^  Atticus  first  deflected  him  from  his  in- 
tention of  reaching  Rome  on  November  15,^**^  sending  him 
down  to  Arpinum  instead,^"*  and  in  early  December  was  still 
holding  him  there^*^^  until  the  issue  of  events  should  be  more 
clear.  *  It  seems,  however,  that  he  had  outlined  a  policy  which 
was  merely  postponed  until  the  time  should  be  ripe,  a  policy  in 
which  Cicero  promised  to  follow  his  lead,  depending  upon  his 
assistance.^**^ 

Curiously  enough,  Cicero  closed  the  last  letter  to  Atticus 
with  a  despairing  abnegation  of  all  patriotic  interests,  and  a 
declaration  that  his  only  concern  was  for  his  threatened  finan- 
cial reputation.^*^^  This  letter,  dated  early  in  December,  was 
followed  by  his  return  to  Rome  and  by  that  struggle  against 
Antony  in  which  he  proved  his  patriotism  by  the  activities  of 

298  XVI.  14,  I. 

2M  XVI.  15,  3. 

«o«  XVI.  14,  2. 

801 XVI.  15,  3 ;  Cicero  had  already,  in  conversation  with  Oppius,  post- 
poned a  decision  until  this  test  should  be  applied  (XVI.  15,  3).  If 
Ad  Brut,  I.  16  and  17  be  counted  as  genuine,  and  if  in  17,  6,  Octavius 
be  read  for  Antonius,  there  is  evidence  that  by  May  of  43  Atticus  was 
willing  to  vouch  for  the  sincerity  of  Octavian's  professions. 

802  XVI.  12;  10;  13b,  I. 

»o»  XVI.  13,  2. 

»o*  XVI.  13,  2. 

»o5  XVI.  15,  6. 

806  XVI.  13,  I. 

SOT  XVI.  15,  4-6. 


100 


TITUS   POMPONIUS   ATTICUS. 


his  last  days.  The  return  to  Rome,  which  took  place  on  De- 
cember 9,3««  was  necessitated  by  business  difficulties,^"^  but  it 
is  likely  that  Atticus  gave  the  signal  for  the  opening  of  the 
struggle.  Antony  had  left  Rome  on  November  28,  and  news 
must  soon  have  reached  the  capital  of  his  failure  to  regain  con- 
trol of  his  mutinous  troops.  The  publication  of  the  second 
Philippic  was  Cicero's  declaration  of  war."" 

On  the  later  years  of  Atticus  information  is  very  slight. 
Nepos  says  that  he  never  financed  a  political  movement,  and 
that  even  when  the  friends  of  Brutus  proposed  raising  a  fund 
to  support  the  cause  of  the  tyrannicides,  Atticus  refused  to  co- 
operate."* No  conclusion  can  be  drawn  from  this  instance,  as 
we  do  not  know  who  were  the  proposers  nor  what  was  Atticus' 
estimate  of  their  ability  to  handle  money,  yet  it  is  probable  that 
the  determination  not  to  stake  his  fortune  on  a  political  hazard 
was  a  part  of  the  program  of  neutrality  that  Atticus  had 
adopted  for  his  personal  course  early  in  life,  and  that  nothing 
but  a  combination  of  belief  in  a  party  and  confidence  in  its 
management  such  as  was  vouchsafed  to  him  only  once  would 
have  tempted  him  to  depart  from  his  rule. 

Another  principle  that  Atticus  adopted  early  and  adhered  to 
tenaciously  was  that  of  political  amnesty.  Even  after  the  death 
of  Cicero  and  Brutus,  Atticus  lived  on  good  terms  with  the 
victors.^'-  If  this  was  due  partly  to  regard  for  his  own  safety, 
it  was  doubtless  partly  determined  by  the  conviction,  formed 
in  his  earliest  experience  in  Rome  and  strengthened  by  his  ob- 
servation in  Greece,  that  a  state  which  suffered  the  perpetua- 

»<«y|rf.  Faiff.  XI.  5.  I. 
8o»  XVI.  15,  5  and  6. 

"0  Our  only  information  on  Atticus'  position  during  the  rest  of  Cicero's 
hfe  IS  the  evidence  of  Ad  Brut.  16  and  17.  If  these  are  genuine,  At- 
ticus was  still  trying  to  promote  harmony  between  his  friends  and 
urging  on  Brutus  the  support  that  he  owed  to  Cicero. 

Ill  ii*;  ^'  ?•    ^^  was  Flayius  who  asked  Atticus  to  head  the  movement. 

»"  At  least  eventually ;  Nep.^«.  19;  the  betrothal  of  Caecilia  through 
Antony  s  mediation  probably  took  place  in  36.  It  may  have  been  An- 
tony s  expression  of  gratitude  for  Atticus'  kindness  to  Fulvia.  Dru- 
mann,  V.  89.  Groebe  conjectures  37  as  the  date  of  the  betrothal.  It 
must  have  come  before  the  final  break  between  Antony  and  Octavius 


^ 


1  v**' 

# 


I* 


/ 


^ 


ATTICUS   IN    POLITICS. 


101 


tion  of  political  grievances  was  neither  fit  to  live  in  nor  des- 
tined to  survive. 

His  quiescence  was  not  servile.  He  always  maintained  his 
privilege  of  serving  the  vanquished.  Nepos  gives  a  long  list 
of  victims  of  party  defeat  whom  Atticus  assisted  with  money 
— the  younger  Marius  in  his  flight  from  Rome,^^^  Cicero  at 
the  time  of  his  exile,'^"  Brutus  on  his  withdrawal  from  Italy ,^" 
various  Antonians,  among  them  Fulvia,  after  the  battle  of 
Mutina,^^®  the  expatriated  republicans  after  Philippi.*^^  It 
satisfied  not  only  his  generosity  but  also  his  fastidious  sense  of 
honor  to  prove  the  disinterestedness  of  his  friendship  by  serv- 
ing those  whom  it  was  unprofitable  and  perhaps  dangerous  to 
serve.^^* 

Atticus'  counsel,  like  his  money,  served  best  in  hours  of  de- 
feat. Cicero  felt  that  he  could  rely  on  the  shrewdness  of  At- 
ticus to  measure  the  difficulties  of  a  situation  and  to  decide 
whether  it  called  for  action  or  submission.  He  trusted  Atticus* 
insight  in  regard  to  character  and  motive.  In  a  great  measure 
this  confidence  was  justified,  yet  the  judgment  of  Atticus  was 
by  no  means  unerring.  He  was  sometimes  influenced  by  sen- 
timent, though  less  so  than  Cicero.  In  the  case  of  Caesar,  his 
estimate  seems  to  have  been  too  much  determined  by  old  dis- 
trust, second-hand  impressions,  rumors,  too  little  by  an  open 
minded  observation  of  the  man's  development.  While  he  ad- 
mired bold  initiative  action,  his  temperamental  caution  kept 
him  from  recommending  it ;  even  at  times  when  he  longed  to 
see  it  tried,  he  could  not  make  large  or  effective  plans  for  it. 

The  greatest  value  of  his  counsel  lay  in  its  constant  moral 
stimulus.  If  he  could  not  advise  great  action,  he  could  advise 
great  renimciations.  Whether  he  could  have  steeled  himself 
to  recommending  martyrdom  if  he  had  thought  cause  and  oc- 

»i3  Ati.  2,  2. 

»i*  Ibid.  4,  4. 

315  Ibid.  8,  6. 

'!«  Ibid.  9,  3  and  4. 

»i^  Ibid.  II,  I ;  cf.  12,  3  and  5. 

318  Ibid.  2,  3-5. 


102 


TITUS   POMPONIUS   ATTK  I  S. 


,| 


^11 


casion  worthy  it  is  not  possible  to  say :  he  certainly  did  net 
want  C  icero  to  suffer  niartyrdoni  for  the  sake  of  Ponipey  nor 
Brutus  at  the  hands  of  Antony.    lUit  there  was  in  him  stren^nh 

*V^^7''  ^  "'*^^  *'^  ^'"^  ^^^^"^  proffered  advancement  for  the 
sake  of  principle,  to  insist  on  work  in  smaller  splieres  when  he 
had  thus  closed  to  himself  the  g^rcat  avenues  to  prosperity  and 
honors,  and  throuR-h  years  of  sudi  work  to  supply  him'  witli 
patience,  courage  and  a  sense  of  accomplishment. 


VITA. 

I  was  born  in  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  August  28,  1876. 
My  father  was  John  Mill  Byrne,  my  mother  Mary  Reinhold 
Byrne.  I  received  my  early  education  in  the  public  schools  of 
Lancaster  and  the  Millersville  State  Normal  School,  from 
which  I  was  graduated  in  1894. 

In  the  summer  of  1904  I  took  courses  in  Latin  and  Greek  at 
Cornell  University  under  Professor  Bennett,  Mr.  Durham  and 
Professor  Bristol.  In  November,  1906,  I  received  permission 
througli  a  special  ruling  of  the  Council  of  Wellesley  College 
to  pass  off  courses  by  examination.  After  completing  three 
years  of  work  by  the  presentation  of  papers  and  by  examina- 
tion, I  entered  the  college  as  a  resident  student  in  September, 
ic)07,  and  was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts 
in  June,  1908. 

I  taught  various  subjects,  principally  Greek  and  Latin,  in  the 
Union  1 ligh  School,  Coleraine,  Pennsylvania,  1 894-1896, 1899- 
1900,  in  Mrs.  Blackwood's  School,  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania, 
i896-i89(}.  1900-1901,  in  Miss  Stahr's  School,  afterwards  the 
Shippen  School,  Lancaster,  1901-1909,  in  Miss  Hills'  School, 
Philadelphia,  1909-1911,  and  in  the  Baldwin  School,  Bryn 
Mawr,  Pennsylvania,  1911-1917.  In  the  year  1917-1918  I 
have  been  Associate  Professor  of  Latin  and  Greek  in  the  West- 
ern College  for  Women,  Oxford,  Ohio. 

During  the  years  1909-1916,  I  studied  at  Bryn  Mawr  Col- 
lege, taking  graduate  courses  in  Latin  under  Dr.  Wheeler  and 
Dr.  Frank,  in  Greek  under  Dr.  Sanders  and  Dr.  Wright.  To 
all  these  professors  I  wish  to  express  my  indebtedness.  The 
work  on  my  dissertation  has  been  done  under  the  direction  of 
Dr.  Frank,  to  w^hom  especially  I  owe  gratitude  for  stimulus  and 
counsel. 

I  took  the  preliminary  examinations  required  of  candidates 
for  a  doctorate  of  philosophy  in  December,  191 5  and  January, 
191 6,  the  final  examination  in  June,  19 18. 

103 


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